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LADY    BALTIMORE 


"The  young  girl  realized  his  intention  and  straightened  stiffly" 


Lady  Baltimore 


BY 

OWEN   WISTER 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  VIRGINIAN,"   ETC.,  ETC. 


WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS  BY 
VERNON  HOWE   BAILEY  and  LESTER   RALPH 


Nefo  garJt 
THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON :   MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1906 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1905,  1906, 
BY  THE  CURTIS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 

COPYRIGHT,  1906, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  April,  1906. 


Wfc/7 


!•*• 


Nortoontt 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Cc 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


To 
S.    WEIR   MITCHELL 

WITH  THE  AFFECTION  AND  MEMORIES   OF  ALL  MY  LIFE 


M143867 


TO   THE    READER 

You  know  the  great  text  in  Burns,  I  am  sure, 
where  he  wishes  he  could  see  himself  as  others 
see  him.  Well,  here  lies  the  hitch  in  many  a 
work  of  art:  if  its  maker  —  poet,  painter,  or 
novelist  —  could  but  have  become  its  audience 
too,  for  a  single  day,  before  he  launched  it  ir 
revocably  upon  the  uncertain  ocean  of  publicity, 
how  much  better  his  boat  would  often  sail !  How 
many  little  touches  to  the  rigging  he  would  give, 
how  many  little  drops  of  oil  to  the  engines  here 
and  there,  the  need  of  which  he  had  never  sus 
pected,  but  for  that  trial  trip !  That's  where  the 
ship-builders  and  dramatists  have  the  advantage 
over  us  others :  they  can  dock  their  productions, 
and  tinker  at  them.  Even  to  the  musician  comes 
this  useful  chance,  and  Schumann  can  reform  the 
proclamation  which  opens  his  B-flat  Symphony. 

Still,  to  publish  a  story  in  weekly  numbers  pre 
viously  to  its  appearance  as  a  book  does  some 
times  give  to  the  watchful  author  an  opportunity 
to  learn,  before  it  is  too  late,  where  he  has  failed 
in  clearness;  and  it  brings  him  also,  through  the 
mails,  some  few  questions  that  are  pleasant  and 


viii  TO   THE    READER 

proper  to  answer  when  his  story  sets  forth  united 
upon  its  journey  of  adventure  among  gentle 
readers. 

How  came  my  hero  by  his  name  ? 

If  you  will  open  a  book  more  valuable  than 
any  I  dare  hope  to  write,  and  more  entertain 
ing  too,  The  Life  of  Paul  Jones,  by  Mr.  Buell, 
you  will  find  the  real  ancestor  of  this  imaginary 
boy,  and  fall  in  love  with  John  Mayrant  the- 
First,  as  did  his  immortal  captain  of  the  Bon 
Homme  Richard.  He  came  from  South  Caro 
lina;  and  believing  his  seed  and  name  were 
perished  there  to-day,  I  gave  him  a  descendant. 
I  have  learned  that  the  name,  until  recently,  was 
in  existence ;  I  trust  it  will  not  seem  taken  in 
vain  in  these  pages. 

Whence  came  such  a  person  as  Augustus? 

Our  happier  cities  produce  many  Augustuses, 
and  may  they  long  continue  to  do  so !  If  Au 
gustus  displeases  any  one,  so  much  the  worse  for 
that  one,  not  for  Augustus.  To  be  sure,  he 
doesn't  admire  over  heartily  the  parvenus  of  steel 
or  oil,  whose  too  sudden  money  takes  them  to  the 
divorce  court ;  he  calls  them  the  'yellow  rich';  do 
you  object  to  that?  Nor  does  he  think  that 
those  Americans  who  prefer  their  pockets  to  their 
patriotism,  are  good  citizens.  He  says  of  such 
people  that  '  eternal  vigilance  cannot  watch  liberty 
and  the  ticker  at  the  same  time.'  Do  you  object 


TO   THE    READER  ix 

to  that  ?  Why,  the  young  man  would  be  per 
fect,  did  he  but  attend  his  primaries  and  vote 
more  regularly, — and  who  wants  a  perfect  young 
man? 

What  would  John  Mayrant  have  done  if  Hor- 
tense  had  not  challenged  him  as  she  did  ? 

I  have  never  known,  and  I  fear  we  might  have 
had  a  tragedy. 

Would  the  old  ladies  really  have  spoken  to 
Augustus  about  the  love  difficulties  of  John 
Mayrant  ? 

I  must  plead  guilty.  The  old  ladies  of  Kings 
Port,  like  American  gentlefolk  everywhere,  keep 
family  matters  sacredly  inside  the  family  circle. 
But  you  see,  had  they  not  told  Augustus,  how  in 
the  world  could  I  have  told  —  however,  I  plead 
guilty. 

Certain  passages  have  been  interpreted  most 
surprisingly  to  signify  a  feeling  against  the  col 
ored  race,  that  is  by  no  means  mine.  My  only 
wish  regarding  these  people,  to  whom  we  owe  an 
immeasurable  responsibility,  is  to  see  the  best 
that  is  in  them  prevail.  Discord  over  this 
seems  on  the  wane,  and  sane  views  gaining. 
The  issue  sits  on  all  our  shoulders,  but  local 
variations  call  for  a  sliding  scale  of  policy.  So 
admirably  dispassionate  a  novel  as  The  Elder 
Brother,  by  Mr.  Jervey,  forwards  the  understand 
ing  of  Northerners  unfamiliar  with  the  South, 


x  TO   THE   READER 

and  also  that  friendliness  between  the  two  places, 
which  is  retarded  chiefly  by  tactless  newspapers. 

Ah,  tact  should  have  been  one  of  the  cardinal 
virtues ;  and  if  I  didn't  possess  a  spice  of  it  my 
self,  I  should  here  thank  by  name  certain  two 
members  of  the  St.  Michael  family  of  Kings 
Port  for  their  patience  with  this  comedy,  before 
ever  it  saw  the  light.  Tact  bids  us  away  from 
many  pleasures;  but  it  can  never  efface  the 
memory  of  kindness. 


TABLE    OF  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.  A  WORD  ABOUT  MY  AUNT 

II.  I  VARY  MY  LUNCH  . 

III.  KINGS  PORT  TALKS        .        .        . 

IV.  THE  GIRL  BEHIND  THE  COUNTER  —  I 
V.  THE  BOY  OF  THE  CAKE 

VI.  IN  THE  CHURCHYARD 

VII.  THE  GIRL  BEHIND  THE  COUNTER— II 

VIII.  "MIDSUMMER  NIGHT'S  DREAM"     . 

IX.  JUNO        .        .        .        .        . 

X.  HIGH  WALK  AND  THE  LADIES 

XI.  DADDY  BEN  AND  HIS  SEED    . 

XII.  FROM  THE  BEDSIDE 

XIII.  THE  GIRL  BEHIND  THE  COUNTER— III 

XIV.  THE  REPLACERS      .... 
XV.  WHAT  SHE  CAME  TO  SEE 

XVI.  THE  STEEL  WASP  .        .        ,,'       . 

XVII.  DOING  THE  HANDSOME  THING 

XVIII.  AGAIN  THE  REPLACERS  . 

XIX.  UDOLPHO         .        .        . 

XX.  WHAT  SHE  WANTED  HIM  FOR 

XXI.  HORTENSE'S  CIGARETTE  GOES  OUT 

XXII.  BEHIND  THE  TIMES 

XXIII.  POOR  AUNT  CAROLA  !     .        . 

XXIV.  POST  SCRIPTUM 


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FULL-PAGE    ILLUSTRATIONS 

"The   young    girl    realized    his    intention    and    straightened 

stiffly "  .         .         ....         .        Frontispiece 

PAGE 

"  It  was  almost  a  collision "     .        .         .        .         .  15 

" '  Although  we   may  talk  of  ourselves  to  you,  we  scarcely 

expect  you  to  talk  of  ourselves  to  us  ' "     .         .         .         .       33 

"'Be  honest  and  say  that  you  think  so,  too1 "  .  *  .  .61 

"  She  was  still  surveying  me  with  the  specimen  expression  "  .       95 

"No  companion  save  the  big  curly  white  dog "         .         .  .     173 

"  Too  sick  to  resist  him "         .         .   -     .        •.         .         .    v  .     187 

"Miss  St.  Michael's  visit  was  ostensibly  to  the  bride11      .  .     193 

"None  but  a  female  eye  could  have  detected  any  toboggan 

fire-escape"      .         .        .        .        .'  .        .         .     253 

"  With  all  her  blended  serenity,  there  was  a  touch  of  '  sport 1 

in  her"  I 279 

"  The  negro  who  waited  on  us "      .         .         .         .         .         .     335 

"  John,  after  a  silence,  said  :  'That  is  a  very  curious  view ' "     .     349 
" '  Oh,  yes,  you  would  ! 1  said  Hortense  "          •        •        •        •     377 


xiii 


LADY    BALTIMORE 


A    WORD    ABOUT    MY    AUNT 

LIKE  Adam,  our  first  conspicuous  ancestor,  I 
must  begin,  and  lay  the  blame  upon  a  woman ; 
I  am  glad  to  recognize  that  I  differ  from  the  father 
of  my  sex  in  no  important  particular,  being  as 
manlike  as  most  of  his  sons.  Therefore  it  is  the 
woman,  my  Aunt  Carola,  who  must  bear  the  whole 
reproach  of  the  folly  which  I  shall  forthwith  con 
fess  to  you,  since  she  it  was  who  put  it  into  my 
head  ;  and,  as  it  was  only  to  make  Eve  happy  that 
her  husband  ever  consented  to  eat  the  disastrous 
apple,  so  I,  save  to  please  my  relative,  had  never 
aspired  to  become  a  Selected  Salic  Scion.  I 
rejoice  now  that  I  did  so,  that  I  yielded  to  her 
temptation.  Ours  is  a  wide  country,  and  most  of 
us  know  but  our  own  corner  of  it,  while,  thanks 
to  my  Aunt,  I  have  been  able  to  add  another  cor 
ner.  This,  among  many  other  enlightenments  of 
travel  and  education,  do  I  owe  her;  she  stands 
on  the  threshold  of  all  that  is  to  come ;  therefore 
it  were  lacking  in  deference  did  I  pass  her  and 
the  Scions  by  without  due  mention,  —  employing 
no  English  but  such  as  fits  a  theme  so  stately. 
Although  she  never  left  the  threshold,  nor  went 
to  Kings  Port  with  me,  nor  saw  the  boy,  or  the 


.-LADY   BALTIMORE 


girl,  or  any  part  of  what  befell  them,  she  knew 
quite  well  who  the  boy  was.  When  I  wrote  her 
about  him,  she  remembered  one  of  his  grand 
mothers  whom  she  had  visited  during  her  own 
girlhood,  long  before  the  war,  both  in  Kings  Port 
and  at  the  family  plantation  ;  and  this  old  memory 
led  her  to  express  a  kindly  interest  in  him.  How 
odd  and  far  away  that  interest  seems,  now  that  it 
has  been  turned  to  cold  displeasure ! 

Some  other  day,  perhaps,  I  may  try  to  tell  you 
much  more  than  I  can  tell  you  here  about  Aunt 
Carola  and  her  Colonial  Society  —  that  apple 
which  Eve,  in  the  form  of  my  Aunt,  held  out  to 
me.  Never  had  I  expected  to  feel  rise  in  me  the 
appetite  for  this  particular  fruit,  though  I  had 
known  such  hunger  to  exist  in  some  of  my  neigh 
bors.  Once  a  worthy  dame  of  my  town,  at  whose 
dinner-table  young  men  and  maidens  of  fashion 
sit  constantly,  asked  me  with  much  sentiment  if  I 
was  aware  that  she  was  descended  from  Boadicea. 
Why  had  she  never  (I  asked  her)  revealed  this 
to  me  before  ?  And  upon  her  informing  me  that 
she  had  learned  it  only  that  very  day,  I  exclaimed 
that  it  was  a  great  distance  to  have  descended  so 
suddenly.  To  this,  after  a  look  at  me,  she  as 
sented,  adding  that  she  had  the  good  news  from 
the  office  of  The  American  Almanack  de  Got  ha, 
Union  Square,  New  York ;  and  she  recommended 
that  publication  to  me.  There  was  but  a  slight 
fee  to  pay,  a  matter  of  fifty  dollars  or  upwards, 
and  for  this  trifling  sum  you  were  furnished  with 
your  rightful  coat-of-arms  and  with  papers  clearly 
tracing  your  family  to  the  Druids,  the  Vestal  Vir 
gins,  and  all  the  best  people  in  the  world.  There- 


A   WORD   ABOUT   MY   AUNT  3 

fore  I  felicitated  the  Boadicean  lady  upon  the 
illustrious  progenitrix  with  whom  the  Almanach 
de  Gotha  had  provided  her  for  so  small  a  con 
sideration,  and  observed  that  for  myself  I  sup 
posed  I  should  continue  to  rest  content  with  the 
thought  that  in  our  enlightened  Republic  every 
American  was  himself  a  sovereign.  But  that, 
said  the  lady,  after  giving  me  another  look,  is  so 
different  from  Boadicea !  And  to  this  I  perfectly 
agreed.  Later  I  had  the  pleasure  to  hear  in  a 
roundabout  way  that  she  had  pronounced  me 
one  of  the  most  agreeable  young  men  in  society, 
though  sophisticated.  I  have  not  cherished  this 
against  her ;  my  gift  of  humor  puzzles  many  who 
can  see  only  my  refinement  and  my  scrupulous 
attention  to  dress. 

Yes,  indeed,  I  counted  myself  proof  against  all 
Boadiceas.  But  you  have  noticed  —  have  you  not  ? 
- — how,  whenever  a  few  people  gather  together 
and  style  themselves  something,  and  choose  a 
president,  and  eight  or  nine  vice-presidents,  and 
a  secretary  and  a  treasurer,  and  a  committee  on 
elections,  and  then  let  it  be  known  that  almost 
nobody  else  is  qualified  to  belong  to  it,  that  there 
springs  up  immediately  in  hundreds  and  thou 
sands  of  breasts  a  fiery  craving  to  get  into  that 
body  ?  You  may  try  this  experiment  in  science, 
law,  medicine,  art,  letters,  society,  farming,  I  care 
not  what,  but  you  will  set  the  same  craving  afire 
in  doctors,  academicians,  and  dog  breeders  all  over 
the  earth.  Thus,  when  my  Aunt  —  the  president, 
herself,  mind  you!  —  said  to  me  one  day  that  she 
thought,  if  I  proved  my  qualifications,  my  name 
might  be  favorably  considered  by  the  Selected 


4  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Salic  Scions  —  I  say  no  more ;  I  blush,  though 
you  cannot  see  me ;  when  I  am  tempted,  I  seem 
to  be  human,  after  all. 

At  first,  to  be  sure,  I  met  Aunt  Carola's  sug 
gestion  in  the  way  that  I  am  too  ready  to  meet 
many  of  her  remarks ;  for  you  must  know  she 
once,  with  sincere  simplicity  and  good-will,  told 
my  Uncle  Andrew  (her  husband ;  she  is  only  my 
Aunt  by  marriage)  that  she  had  married  beneath 
her;  and  she  seemed  unprepared  for  his  reception 
of  this  candid  statement:  Uncle  Andrew  was  un 
affectedly  merry  over  it.  Ever  since  then  all  of 
us  wait  hopefully  every  day  for  what  she  may  do 
or  say  next. 

She  is  from  old  New  York,  oldest  New  York; 
the  family  manor  is  still  habitable,  near  Cold 
Spring;  she  was,  in  her  youth,  handsome,  I  am 
assured  by  those  whose  word  I  have  always 
trusted ;  her  appearance  even  to-day  causes  people 
to  turn  and  look;  she  is  not  tall  in  feet  and 
inches  —  I  have  to  stoop  considerably  when  she 
commands  from  me  the  familiarity  of  a  kiss ;  but 
in  the  quality  which  we  call  force,  in  moral  stature, 
she  must  be  full  eight  feet  high.  When  rebuking 
me,  she  can  pronounce  a  single  word,  my  name, 
"  Augustus ! "  in  a  tone  that  renders  further  re 
mark  needless;  and  you  should  see  her  eye  when 
she  says  of  certain  newcomers  in  our  society,  "  I 
don't  know  them."  She  can  make  her  curtsy  as 
appalling  as  a  natural  law  ;  she  knows  also  how 
to  "  take  umbrage,"  which  is  something  that  I 
never  knew  any  one  else  to  take  outside  of  a 
book  ;  she  is  a  highly  pronounced  Christian,  hold 
ing  all  Unitarians  wicked  and  all  Methodists  vul- 


A   WORD   ABOUT   MY   AUNT  5 

gar ;  and  once,  when  she  was  talking  (as  she  does 
frequently)  about  King  James  and  the  English 
religion  and  the  English  Bible,  and  I  reminded 
her  that  the  Jews  wrote  it,  she  said  with  displeas 
ure  that  she  made  no  doubt  King  James  had  — 
"  well,  seen  to  it  that  all  foreign  matter  was  ex 
punged  " —  I  give  you  her  own  words.  Unless 
you  have  moved  in  our  best  American  society 
(and  by  this  I  do  not  at  all  mean  the  lower  classes 
with  dollars  and  no  grandfathers,  who  live  in 
palaces  at  Newport,  and  look  forward  to  every 
thing  and  back  to  nothing,  but  those  Americans 
with  grandfathers  and  no  dollars,  who  live  in 
boarding-houses,  and  look  forward  to  nothing  and 
back  to  everything)  —  unless  you  have  known  this 
haughty  and  improving  milieu,  you  have  never 
seen  anything  like  my  Aunt  Carola.  Of  course, 
with  Uncle  Andrew's  money,  she  does  not  live  in 
a  boarding-house  ;  and  I  shall  finish  this  brief 
attempt  to  place  her  before  you  by  adding  that 
she  can  be  very  kind,  very  loyal,  very  public-spir 
ited,  and  that  I  am  truly  attached  to  her. 

"  Upon  your  mother's  side  of  the  family,"  she 
said,  "  of  course." 

"  Me! "    I  did  not  have  to  feign  amazement. 

My  Aunt  was  silent. 

"  Me  descended  from  a  king  ?  " 

My  Aunt  nodded  with  an  indulgent  stateliness. 
"  There  seems  to  be  the  possibility  of  it." 

"  Royal  blood  in  my  veins,  Aunt  ?  " 

"  I   have  said  so,  Augustus.-     Why  make  me 
repeat  it  ?  " 

It  was  now,  I  fear,  that  I  met  Aunt  Carola  in 
that  unfitting  spirit,  that  volatile  mood,  which,  as 


6  LADY   BALTIMORE 

I  have  said  already,  her  remarks  often  rouse  in 
me. 

"  And  from  what  sovereign  may  I  hope  that 
I—?" 

"  If  you  will  consult  a  recent  admirable  compi 
lation,  entitled  The  American  Almanack  de  Gotha, 
you  will  find  that  Henry  the  Seventh  —  " 

"  Aunt,  I  am  so  much  relieved  !  For  I  think 
that  I  might  have  hesitated  to  trace  it  back  had 
you  said  —  well  —  Charles  the  Second,  for  ex 
ample,  or  Elizabeth." 

At  this  point  I  should  have  been  wise  to  notice 
my  Aunt's  eye  ;  but  I  did  not,  and  I  continued 
imprudently:  — 

"  Though  why  hesitate  ?  I  have  never  heard 
that  there  was  anybody  present  to  marry  Adam 
and  Eve,  and  so  why  should  we  all  make  such  a 
to-do  about  —  " 

"Augustus!" 

She  uttered  my  name  in  that  quiet  but  prodi 
gious  tone  to  which  I  have  alluded  above. 

It  was  I  who  was  now  silent. 

"  Augustus,  if  you  purpose  trifling,  you  may 
leave  the  room." 

"  Oh,  Aunt,  I  beg  your  pardon.  I  never 
meant  —  " 

"  I  cannot  understand  what  impels  you  to  adopt 
such  a  manner  to  me,  when  I  am  trying  to  do 
something  for  you." 

I  hastened  to  strengthen  my  apologies  with  a 
manner  becoming  the  possible  descendant  of  a 
king  toward  a  lady  of  distinction,  and  my  Aunt 
was  pleased  to  pass  over  my  recent  lapse  from 
respect.  She  now  broached  her  favorite  topic, 


A   WORD   ABOUT   MY   AUNT  7 

which  I  need  scarcely  tell  you  is  genealogy,  begin 
ning  with  her  own. 

"  If  your  title  to  royal  blood,"  she  said,  "  were  as 
plain  as  mine  (through  Admiral  Bombo,you  know), 
you  would  not  need  any  careful  research." 

She  told  me  a  great  deal  of  genealogy,  which  I 
spare  you ;  it  was  not  one  family  tree,  it  was  a 
forest  of  them.  It  gradually  appeared  that  a 
grandmother  of  my  mother's  grandfather  had  been 
a  Fanning,  and  there  were  sundry  kinds  of  Fan- 
nings,  right  ones  and  wrong  ones  ;  the  point  for 
me  was,  what  kind  had  mine  been?  No  family 
record  showed  this.  If  it  was  Fanning  of  the  Bon 
Homme  Richard  variety,  or  Fanning  of  the  Ala- 
mance,  then  I  was  no  king's  descendant. 

"  Worthy  New  England  people,  I  understand," 
said  my  Aunt  with  her  nod  of  indulgent  stateli- 
ness,  referring  to  the  Bon  Homme  Richard  species, 
"but  of  entirely  bourgeois  extraction  —  Paul  Jones 
himself,  you  know,  was  a  mere  gardener's  son  — 
while  the  Alamance  Fanning  was  one  of  those 
infamous  regulators  who  opposed  Governor 
Tryon.  Not  through  any  such  cattle  could  you 
be  one  of  us,"  said  my  Aunt. 

But  a  dim,  distant,  hitherto  uncharted  Henry 
Tudor  Fanning  had  fought  in  some  of  the  early 
Indian  wars,  and  the  last  of  his  known  blood  was 
reported  to  have  fallen  while  fighting  bravely  at 
the  battle  of  Cowpens.  In  him  my  hope  lay. 
Records  of  Tarleton,  records  of  Marion's  men, 
these  were  what  I  must  search,  and  for  these  I 
had  best  go  to  Kings  Port.  If  I  returned  with 
kinship  proven,  then  I  might  be  a  Selected  Salic 
Scion,  a  chosen  vessel,  a  royal  seed,  one  in  the 


8  ^  LADY   BALTIMORE 

most  exalted  circle  of  men  and  women  upon  our 
coasts.  The  other  qualifications  were  already 
mine:  ancestors  colonial  and  bellicose  upon  land 
and  sea  — 

" — besides  having  acquired,"  my  Aunt  was 
so  good  as  to  say,  "  sufficient  personal  present- 
ability  since  your  life  in  Paris,  of  which  I  had 
rather  not  know  too  much,  Augustus.  It  is  a  pity," 
she  repeated,  "that  you  will  have  so  much  research. 
With  my  family  it  was  all  so  satisfactorily  clear 
through  Kill-devil  Bombo  —  Admiral  Bombo's 
spirited,  reckless  son." 

You  will  readily  conceive  that  I  did  not  venture 
to  betray  my  ignorance  of  these  Bombos ;  I 
worked  my  eyebrows  to  express  a  silent  and  time- 
worn  familiarity. 

"  Go  to  Kings  Port.  You  need  a  holiday,  at 
any  rate.  And  I,"  my  Aunt  handsomely  finished, 
"  will  make  the  journey  a  present  to  you." 

This  generosity  made  me  at  once,  and  sincerely, 
repentant  for  my  flippancy  concerning  Charles  the 
Second  and  Elizabeth.  And  so,  partly  from  being 
tempted  by  this  apple  of  Eve,  and  partly  because 
recent  overwork  had  tired  me,  but  chiefly  for  her 
sake,  and  not  to  thwart  at  the  outset  her  kindly- 
meant  ambitions  for  me,  I  kissed  the  hand  of  my 
Aunt  Carola  and  set  forth  to  Kings  Port. 

"  Come  back  one  of  us,"  was  her  parting  bene 
diction. 


II 

I    VARY    MY    LUNCH 

THUS  it  was  that  I  came  to  sojourn  in  the 
most  appealing,  the  most  lovely,  the  most 
wistful  town  in  America ;  whose  visible  sadness 
and  distinction  seem  also  to  speak  audibly,  speak 
in  the  sound  of  the  quiet  waves  that  ripple  round 
her  Southern  front,  speak  in  the  church-bells  on 
Sunday  morning,  and  breathe  not  only  in  the  soft 
salt  air,  but  in  the  perfume  of  every  gentle,  old- 
fashioned  rose  that  blooms  behind  the  high  gar 
den  walls  of  falling  mellow-tinted  plaster :  Kings 
Port  the  retrospective,  Kings  Port  the  belated, 
who  £rom  her  pensive  porticoes  looks  over  her 
two  rivers  to  the  marshes  and  the  trees  beyond, 
the  live-oaks,  veiled  in  gray  moss,  brooding  with 
memories  !  Were  she  my  city,  how  I  should  love 
her! 

But  though  my  city  she  cannot  be,  the  enchant 
ing  image  of  her  is  mine  to  keep,  to  carry  with 
me  wheresoever  I  may  go ;  for  who,  having  seen 
her,  could  forget  her?  Therefore  I  thank  Aunt 
Carola  for  this  gift,  and  for  what  must  always 
go  with  it  in  my  mind,  the  quiet  and  strange 
romance  which  I  saw  happen,  and  came  finally 
to  share  in.  Why  it  is  that  my  Aunt  no  longer 
wishes  to  know  either  the  boy  or  the  girl,  or  even 
to  hear  their  names  mentioned,  you  shall  learn  at 


10 


LADY   BALTIMORE 


the  end,  when  I  have  finished  with  the  wedding ; 
for  this  happy  story  of  love  ends  with  a  wedding, 
and  begins  in  the  Woman's  Exchange,  which  the 


Kings  Port  the  retrospective 

ladies  of  Kings  Port  have  established,  and  (I  trust) 
lucratively  conduct,  in  Royal  Street. 

Royal  Street !  There's  a  relevance  in  this 
name,  a  fitness  to  my  errand;  but  that  is  pure 
accident. 


I   VARY   MY   LUNCH  n 

The  Woman's  Exchange  happened  to  be  there, 
a  decorous  resort  for  those  who  became  hungry, 
as  I  did,  at  the  hour  of  noon  each  day.  In  my 
very  pleasant  boarding-house,  where,  to  be  sure, 
there  was  one  dreadful  boarder,  a  tall  lady,  whom 
I  soon  secretly  called  Juno  —  but  let  unpleasant 
things  wait  —  in  the  very  pleasant  house  where  I 
boarded  (I  had  left  my  hotel  after  one  night)  our 
breakfast  was  at  eight,  and  our  dinner  not  until 
three :  sacred  meal  hours  in  Kings  Port,  as  invio 
lable,  I  fancy,  as  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  but  a  gap  quite  beyond  the  stretch  of  my 
Northern  vitals.  Therefore,  at  twelve,  it  was  my 
habit  to  leave  my  Fanning  researches  for  a  while, 
and  lunch  at  the  Exchange  upon  chocolate  and 
sandwiches  most  delicate  in  savor.  As,  one  day, 
I  was  luxuriously  biting  one  of  these,  I  heard  his 
voice  and  what  he  was  saying.  Both  the  voice 
and  the  interesting  order  he  was  giving  caused 
me,  at  my  small  table,  in  the  dim  back  of  the 
room,  to  stop  and  watch  him  where  he  stood  in 
the  light  at  the  counter  to  the  right  of  the  entrance 
door.  Young  he  was,  very  young,  twenty-two  or 
three  at  the  most,  and  as  he  stood,  with  hat  in 
hand,  speaking  to  the  pretty  girl  behind  the 
counter,  his  head  and  side-face  were  of  a  romantic 
and  high-strung  look.  It  was  a  cake  that  he 
desired  made,  a  cake  for  a  wedding ;  and  I  directly 
found  myself  curious  to  know  whose  wedding. 
Even  a  dull  wedding  interests  me  more  than 
other  dull  events,  because  it  can  arouse  so  much 
surmise  and  so  much  prophecy ;  but  in  this  wed 
ding  I  instantly,  because  of  his  strange  and  win 
ning  embarrassment,  became  quite  absorbed.  How 


12  LADY   BALTIMORE 

came  it  he  was  ordering  the  cake  for  it  ?  Blush 
ing  like  the  boy  that  he  was  entirely,  he  spoke  in 
a  most  engaging  voice :  "  No,  not  charged ;  and 
as  you  don't  know  me,  I  had  better  pay  for  it  now." 

Self-possession  in  his  speech  he  almost  had ; 
but  the  blood  in  his  cheeks  and  forehead  was 
beyond  his  control. 

A  reply  came  from  behind  the  counter:  "We 
don't  expect  payment  until  delivery." 

"But  —  a  —  but  on  that  morning  I  shall  be 
rather  particularly  engaged."  His  tones  sank 
almost  away  on  these  words. 

"  We  should  prefer  to  wait,  then.  You  will  leave 
your  address.  In  half-pound  boxes,  I  suppose?" 

"  Boxes  ?  Oh,  yes  —  I  hadn't  thought  —  no  — 
just  a  big,  round  one.  Like  this,  you  know ! " 
His  arms  embraced  a  circular  space  of  air.  "  With 
plenty  of  icing." 

I  do  not  think  that  there  was  any  smile  on  the 
other  side  of  the  counter ;  there  was,  at  any  rate, 
no  hint  of  one  in  the  voice.  "  And  how  many 
pounds? " 

He  was  again  staggered.  "  Why  —  a  —  I  never 
ordered  one  before.  I  want  plenty  —  and  the  very 
best,  the  very  best.  Each  person  would  eat  a 
pound,  wouldn't  they?  Or  would  two  be  nearer? 
I  think  I  had  better  leave  it  all  to  you.  About 
.like  this,  you  know."  Once  more  his  arms  em 
braced  a  circular  space  of  air. 

Before  this  I  had  never  heard  the  young  lady 
behind  the  counter  enter  into  any  conversation 
with  a  customer.  She  would  talk  at  length  about 
all  sorts  of  Kings  Port  affairs  with  the  older  ladies 
connected  with  the  Exchange,  who  were  frequently 


I   VARY   MY   LUNCH  13 

to  be  found  there ;  but  with  a  customer,  never. 
She  always  took  my  orders,  and  my  money,  and 
served  me,  with  a  silence  and  a  propriety  that 
have  become,  with  ordinary  shopkeepers,  a  lost 
art.  They  talk  to  one  indeed !  But  this  slim  girl 
was  a  lady,  and  consequently  did  the  right  thing, 
marking  and  keeping  a  distance  between  herself 
and  the  public.  To-day,  however,  she  evidently 
felt  it  her  official  duty  to  guide  the  hapless  young 
man  amid  his  errors.  He  now  appeared  to  be 
committing  a  grave  one. 

"  Are  you  quite  sure  you  want  that  ? "  the  girl 
was  asking. 

"  Lady  Baltimore  ?     Yes,  that  is  what  I  want." 

"  Because,"  she  began  to  explain,  then  hesitated, 
and  looked  at  him.  Perhaps  it  was  in  his  face ; 
perhaps  it  was  that  she  remembered  at  this  point 
the  serious  difference  between  the  price  of  Lady 
Baltimore  (by  my  small  bill-of-fare  I  was  now  made 
acquainted  with  its  price)  and  the  cost  of  that 
rich  article  which  convention  has  prescribed  as 
the  cake  for  weddings ;  at  any  rate,  swift,  sudden 
delicacy  of  feeling  prevented  her  explaining  any 
more  to  him,  for  she  saw  how  it  was :  his  means 
were  too  humble  for  the  approved  kind  of  wed 
ding  cake!  She  was  too  young,  too  unskilled 
yet  in  the  world's  ways,  to  rise  above  her  embar 
rassment;  and  so  she  stood  blushing  at  him  be 
hind  the  counter,  while  he  stood  blushing  at  her 
in  front  of  it. 

At  length  he  succeeded  in  speaking.  "  That's 
all,  I  believe.  Good-morning." 

At  his  hastily  departing  back  she,  too,  mur 
mured  :  "  Good-morning." 


i4  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Before  I  knew  it  I  had  screamed  out  loudly 
from  my  table :  "  But  he  hasn't  told  you  the  day 
he  wants  it  for !  " 

Before  she  knew  it  she  had  flown  to  the  door  — 
my  cry  had  set  her  going,  as  if  I  had  touched  a 
spring  —  and  there  he  was  at  the  door  himself, 
rushing  back.  He,  too,  had  remembered.  It  was 
almost  a  collision,  and  nothing  but  their  good 
Southern  breeding,  the  way  they  took  it,  saved 
it  from  being  like  a  rowdy  farce. 

"  I  know,"  he  said  sim.ply  and  immediately.  "  I 
am  sorry  to  be  so  careless.  It's  for  the  twenty- 
seventh." 

She  was  writing  it  down  in  the  order-book. 
"  Very  well.  That  is  Wednesday  of  next  week. 
You  have  given  us  more  time  than  we  need."  She 
put  complete,  impersonal  business  into  her  tone ; 
and  this  time  he  marched  off  in  good  order,  leav 
ing  peace  in  the  Woman's  Exchange. 

No,  not  peace ;  quiet,  merely ;  the  girl  at  the 
counter  now  proceeded  to  grow  indignant  with 
me.  We  were  alone  together,  we  two ;  no  young 
man,  or  any  other  business,  occupied  her  or  pro 
tected  me.  But  if  you  suppose  that  she  made 
war,  or  expressed  rage  by  speaking,  that  is  not  it 
at  all.  From  her  counter  in  front  to  my  table  at 
the  back  she  made  her  displeasure  felt ;  she  was 
inaudibly  crushing ;  she  did  not  do  it  even  with 
her  eye,  she  managed  it  —  well,  with  her  neck, 
somehow,  and  by  the  way  she  made  her  nose  look 
in  profile.  Aunt  Carola  would  have  embraced 
her  —  and  I  should  have  liked  to  do  so  myself. 
She  could  not  stand  the  idea  of  my  having,  after 
all  these  days  of  official  reserve  that  she  had  placed 


It  was  almost  a  collision 


I   VARY   MY   LUNCH  17 

between  us,  startled  her  into  that  rush  to  the  door, 
annihilated  her  dignity  at  a  blow.  So  did  I  finish 
my  sandwiches  beneath  her  invisible  but  eloquent 
ire.  What  affair  of  mine  was  the  cake  ?  And 
what  sort  of  impertinent,  meddlesome  person  was 
I,  shrieking  out  my  suggestions  to  people  with 
whom  I  had  no  acquaintance  ?  These  were  the 
things  that  her  nose  and  her  neck  said  to  me  the 
whole  length  of  the  Exchange.  I  had  nothing 
but  my  own  weakness  to  thank ;  it  was  my  inter 
est  in  weddings  that  did  it,  made  me  forget  my 
decorum,  the  public  place,  myself,  everything,  and 
plunge  in.  And  I  became  more  and  more  de 
lighted  over  it  as  the  girl  continued  to  crush  me. 
My  day  had  been  dull,  my  researches  had  not 
brought  me  a  whit  nearer  royal  blood  ;  I  looked  at 
my  little  bill-of-fare,  and  then  I  stepped  forward 
to  the  counter,  adventurous,  but  polite. 

"  I  should  like  a  slice,  if  you  please,  of  Lady 
Baltimore,"  I  said  with  extreme  formality. 

I  thought  she  was  going  to  burst;  but  after  an 
interesting  second  she  replied,  "  Certainly,"  in  her 
regular  Exchange  tone ;  only,  I  thought  it  trem 
bled  a  little. 

I  returned  to  the  table  and  she  brought  me  the 
cake,  and  I  had  my  first  felicitous  meeting  with 
Lady  Baltimore.  Oh,  my  goodness!  Did  you 
ever  taste  it?  It's  all  soft,  and  it's  in  layers,  and 
it  has  nuts  —  but  I  can't  write  any  more  about  it; 
my  mouth  waters  too  much. 

Delighted  surprise  caused  me  once  more  to 
speak  aloud,  and  with  my  mouth  full.  "  But,  dear 
me,  this  is  delicious  !  " 

A  choking  ripple  of   laughter  came  from  the 


1 8  LADY   BALTIMORE 

counter.  "  It's  I  who  make  them,"  said  the  girl. 
"  I  thank  you  for  the  unintentional  compliment." 
Then  she  walked  straight  back  to  my  table.  "  I 
can't  help  it,"  she  said,  laughing  still,  and  her  de 
lightful,  insolent  nose  well  up ;  "  how  can  I  behave 
myself  when  a  man  goes  on  as  you  do  ?  "  A  nice 
white  curly  dog  followed  her,  and  she  stroked  his 
ears. 

"  Your  behavior  is  very  agreeable  to  me,"  I 
remarked. 

"  You'll  allow  me  to  say  that  you're  not  invited 
to  criticise  it.  I  was  decidedly  put  out  with  you 
for  making  me  ridiculous.  But  you  have  admired 
my  cake  with  such  enthusiasm  that  you  are  for 
given.  And  —  may  I  hope  that  you  are  getting 
on  famously  with  the  battle  of  Cowpens  ? " 

I  stared.  "  I'm  frankly  very  much  astonished 
that  you  should  know  about  that !  " 

"  Oh,  you're  just  known  all  about  in  Kings 
Port." 

I  wish  that  our  miserable  alphabet  could  in 
some  way  render  the  soft  Southern  accent  which 
she  gave  to  her  words.  But  it  cannot.  I  could 
easily  misspell,  if  I  chose;  but  how,  even  then, 
could  I,  for  instance,  make  you  hear  her  way  of 
saying  "about"?  "  Aboot "  would  magnify  it; 
and  besides,  I  decline  to  ma"ke  ugly  to  the  eye 
her  quite  special  English,  that  was  so  charming 
to  the  ear. 

"  Kings  Port  just  knows  all  about  you,"  she  re 
peated  with  a  sweet  and  mocking  laugh. 

"  Do  you  mind  telling  me  how  ? " 

She  explained  at  once.  "  This  place  is  death 
to  all  incognitos." 


I  VARY   MY   LUNCH  19 

The  explanation,  however,  did  not,  on  the  in 
stant,  enlighten  me.  "  This  ?  The  Woman's 
Exchange,  you  mean  ?  " 

"  Why,  to  be  sure  !  Have  you  not  heard  ladies 
talking  together  here  ?  " 

I  blankly  repeated  her  words.  "  Ladies  talk 
ing?" 

She  nodded. 

"  Oh ! "  I  cried.  "  How  dull  of  me  !  Ladies 
talking !  Of  course  !  " 

She  continued.  "  It  was  therefore  widely 
known  that  you  were  consulting  our  South  Caro 
lina  archives  at  the  library  —  and  then  that  note 
book  you  bring  marked  you  out  the  very  first 
day.  Why,  two  hours  after  your  first  lunch  we 
just  knew  all  about  you !  " 

"  Dear  me  !  "  said  I. 

"  Kings  Port  is  ever  ready  to  discuss  strangers," 
she  further  explained.  "  The  Exchange  has  been 
going  on  five  years,  and  the  resident  families  have 
discussed  each  other  so  thoroughly  here  that  every 
thing  is  known ;  therefore  *a  stranger  is  a  perfect 
boon."  Her  gayety  for  a  moment  interrupted  her, 
before  she  continued,  always  mocking  and  always 
sweet :  "  Kings  Port  cannot  boast  intelligence 
offices  for  servants ;  but  if  you  want  to  know  the 
character  and  occupation  of  your  friends,  come  to 
the  Exchange ! "  How  I  wish  I  could  give  you 
the  raciness,  the  contagion,  of  her  laughter !  Who 
would  have  dreamed  that  behind  her  primness  all 
this  frolic  lay  in  ambush?  "Why,"  she  said, 
"I'm  only  a  plantation  girl;  it's  my  first  week 
here,  and  I  know  every  wicked  deed  everybody 
has  done  since  1812  !  " 


20  LADY   BALTIMORE 

She  went  back  to  her  counter.  It  had  been 
very  merry ;  and  as  I  was  settling  the  small  debt 
for  my  lunch  I  asked :  "  Since  this  is  the  proper 
place  for  information,  will  you  kindly  tell  me 
whose  wedding  that  cake  is  for?  " 

She  was  astonished.  "  You  don't  know?  And 
I  thought  you  were  quite  a  clever  Ya — I  beg 
your  pardon  —  Northerner." 

"  Please  tell  me,  since  I  know  you're  quite  a 
clever  Reb  —  I  beg  your  pardon  —  Southerner." 

"  Why,  it's  his  own  !  Couldn't  you  see  that  from 
his  bashful  ness  ?  " 

"  Ordering  his  own  wedding  cake  ?  "  Amaze 
ment  held  me.  But  the  door  opened,  one  of  the 
elderly  ladies  entered,  the  girl  behind  the  counter 
stiffened  to  primness  in  a  flash,  and  I  went  out 
into  Royal  Street  as  the  curly  dog's  tail  wagged 
his  greeting  to  the  newcomer. 


Ill 

KINGS    PORT   TALKS 

OF  course  I  had  at  once  left  the  letters  of 
introduction  which  Aunt  Carola  had  given 
me  ;  but  in  my  ignorance  of  Kings  Port  hours  I 
had  found  everybody  at  dinner  when  I  made  my 
first  round  of  calls  between  half-past  three  and 
five  —  an  experience  particularly  regrettable,  since 
I  had  hurried  my  own  dinner  on  purpose,  not 
then  aware  that  the  hours  at  my  boarding-house 
were  the  custom  of  the  whole  town.1  Upon  an 
afternoon  some  days  later,  having  seen  in  the  ex 
tra  looking-glass,  which  I  had  been  obliged  to 
provide  for  myself,  that  the  part  in  my  back  hair 
was  perfect,  I  set  forth  again,  better  informed. 

As  I  rang  the  first  doorbell,  another  visitor 
came  up  the  steps,  a  beautiful  old  lady  in  widow's 
dress,  a  cardcase  in  her  hand. 

"  Have  you  rung,  sir  ? "  said  she,  in  a  manner 
at  once  gentle  and  voluminous. 

"  Yes,  madam." 

Nevertheless  she  pulled  it  again.  "  It  doesn't 
always  ring,"  she  explained,  "  unless  one  is  accus 
tomed  to  it,  which  you  are  not." 

She  addressed  me  with  authority,  exactly  like 
Aunt  Carola,  and  with  even  greater  precision  in 

1  These  hours,,  even  since  my  visit  to  Kings  Port,  are  beginning, 
alas,  to  change.  But  such  backsliding  is  much  condemned. 

21 


22  LADY   BALTIMORE 

her  good  English  and  good  enunciation.  Unlike 
the  girl  at  the  Exchange,  she  had  no  accent;  her 
language  was  simply  the  perfection  of  educated 
utterance  ;  it  also  was  racy  with  the  free  censori- 
ousness  which  civilized  people  of  consequence  are 
apt  to  exercise  the  world  over.  "  I  was  sorry  to 
miss  your  visit,"  she  began  (she  knew  me,  you  see, 
perfectly);  "you  will  please  to  come  again  soon, 
and  console  me  for  my  disappointment.  I  am 
Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael,  and  my  house  is  in 
Le  Maire  Street,1  as  you  have  been  so  civil  as  to 
find  out.  And  how  does  your  Aunt  Carola  do  in 
these  contemptible  times  ?  You  can  tell  her  from 
me  that  vulgarization  is  descending,  even  upon 
Kings  Port." 

"  I  cannot  imagine  that !  "  I  exclaimed. 

"  You  cannot  imagine  it  because  you  don't 
know  anything  about  it,  young  gentleman  !  The 
manners  of  some  of  our  own  young  people  will 
soon  be  as  dishevelled  as  those  in  New  York. 
Have  you  seen  our  town  yet,  or  is  it  all  books 
with  you  ?  You  should  not  leave  without  a  look 
at  what  is  still  left  of  us.  I  shall  be  happy  if  you 
will  sit  in  my  pew  on  Sunday  morning.  Your 
Northern  shells  did  their  best  in  the  bombardment 
—  did  you  say  that  you  rang  ?  I  think  you  had 
better  pull  it  again;  all  the  way  out;  yes,  like 
that  —  in  the  bombardment,  but  we  have  our  old 
church  still,  in  spite  of  you.  Do  you  see  the 
crack  in  that  wall  ?  The  earthquake  did  it. 
You're  spared  earthquakes  in  the  North,  as  you 
seem  to  be  spared  pretty  much  everything  dis 
astrous  —  except  the  prosperity  that's  going  to 

1  Pronounced  in  Kings  Port,  Lammarm?. 


KINGS   PORT  TALKS 


23 


ruin  you  all.     We're  better  off  with  our  poverty 
than  you.     Just  ring  the  bell  once  more,  and  then 


"Shabby  enough  now,  to  le  sure" 

we'll  go.     I  fancy  Julia —  I  fancy  Mrs.  Weguelin 
St.  Michael  —  has  run  out  to  stare  at  the  Northern 


24  LADY   BALTIMORE 

steam  yacht  in  the  harbor.  It  would  be  just  like 
her.  This  house  is  historic  itself.  Shabby  enough 
now,  to  be  sure !  The  great-aunt  of  my  cousin, 
John  Mayrant  (who  is  going  to  be  married  next 
Wednesday,  to  such  a  brute  of  a  girl,  poor  boy !), 
lived  here  in  1840,  and  made  an  answer  to  the 
Earl  of  Mainridge  that  put  him  in  his  place.  She 
was  our  famous  Kings  Port  wit,  and  at  the  recep 
tion  which  her  father  (my  mother's  uncle)  gave 
the  English  visitor,  he  conducted  himself  as  so 
many  Englishmen  seem  to  think  they  can  in  this 
country.  Miss  Beaufain 1  (as  she  was  then)  asked 
the  Earl  how  he  liked  America ;  and  he  replied, 
very  well,  except  for  the  people,  who  were  so  vul 
gar.  '  What  can  you  expect  ? '  said  Miss  Beau- 
fain  ;  *  we're  descended  from  the  English.'  Mrs. 
St.  Michael  is  out,  and  the  servant  has  gone  home. 
Slide  this  card  under  the  door,  with  your  own,  and 
come  away." 

She  took  me  with  her,  moving  through  the 
quiet  South  Place  with  a  leisurely  grace  and 
dignity  at  which  my  spirit  rejoiced ;  she  was  so 
beautiful,  and  so  easy,  and  afraid  of  nothing  and 
nobody ! 2 

In  the  North,  everybody  is  afraid  of  some 
thing  :  afraid  of  the  legislature,  afraid  of  the  trusts, 
afraid  of  the  strikes,  afraid  of  what  the  papers 
will  say,  of  what  the  neighbors  will  say,  of  what 
the  cook  will  say;  and  most  of  all,  and  worst  of 
all,  afraid  to  be  different  from  the  general  pattern, 
afraid  to  take  a  step  or  speak  a  syllable  that  shall 

1  Pronounced  in  Kings  Port,  Bowfayne. 

2  This  must  be  modified.     I  came  later  to  suspect  that  they  aM 
stood  in  some  dread  of  their  own  immediate  families. 


KINGS   PORT   TALKS  25 

cause  them  to  be  thought  unlike  the  monotonous 
millions  of  their  fellow-citizens;  the  land  of  the 


In  quiet  South  Place 

free  living  in  ceaseless  fear!     Well,  I  was  already 
afraid   of    Mrs.    Gregory    St.    Michael.      As   we 


26  LADY   BALTIMORE 

walked  and  she  talked,  I  made  one  or  two  attempts 
at  conversation,  and  speedily  found  that  no  such 
thing  was  the  lady's  intention :  I  was  there  to 
listen;  and  truly  I  could  wish  nothing  more 
agreeable,  in  spite  of  my  desire  to  hear  further 
about  next  Wednesday's  wedding  and  the  brute 
of  a  girl.  But  to  this  subject  Mrs.  St.  Michael 
did  not  return.  We  crossed  Worship  Street  and 
Chancel  Street,  and  were  nearing  the  East  Place 
where  a  cannon  was  being  shown  me,  a  cannon 
with  a  history  and  an  inscription  concerning  the 
"  war  for  Southern  independence,  which  I  presume 
your  prejudice  calls  the  Rebellion,"  said  my  guide. 
"There's  Mrs.  St.  Michael  now,  coming  round 
the  corner.  Well,  Julia,  could  you  read  the  yacht's 
name  with  your  naked  eye  ?  And  what's  the 
name  of  the  gambler  who  owns  it  ?  He's  a  gam 
bler,  or  he  couldn't  own  a  yacht  —  unless  his 
wife's  a  gambler's  daughter." 

"  How  well  you're  feeling  to-day,  Maria  !  "  said 
the  other  lady,  with  a  gentle  smile. 

"Certainly.  *  I  have  been  talking  for  twenty 
minutes."  I  was  now  presented  to  Mrs.  Weguelin 
St.  Michael,  also  old,  also  charming,  in  widow's 
dress  no  less  in  the  bloom  of  age  than  Mrs. 
Gregory,  but  whiter  and  very  diminutive.  She 
shyly  welcomed  me  to  Kings  Port.  "  Take  him 
home  with  you,  Julia.  We  pulled  your  bell  three 
times,  and  it's  too  damp  for  you  to  be  out.  Don't 
forget,"  Mrs.  Gregory  said  to  me,  "  that  you  haven't 
told  me  a  word  about  your  Aunt  Carola,  and  that 
I  shall  expect  you  to  come  and  do  it."  She  went 
slowly  away  from  us,  up  the  East  Place,  tall,  grace 
ful,  sweeping  into  the  distance  like  a  ship.  No 


KINGS   PORT  TALKS  27 

haste  about  her  dignified  movement,  no  swinging 
of  elbows,  nothing  of  the  present  hour ! 

"  What  a  beautiful  girl  she  must  have  been ! " 
I  murmured  aloud,  unconsciously. 

"  No,  she  was  not  a  beauty  in  her  youth,"  said 
my  new  guide  in  her  shy  voice,  "  but  always 
fluent,  always  a  wit.  Kings  Port  has  at  times 
thought  her  tongue  too  downright.  We  think 
that  wit  runs  in  her  family,  for  young  John  May- 
rant  has  it ;  and  her  first-cousin-once-removed  put 
the  Earl  of  Mainridge  in  his  place  at  her  father's 
ball  in  1840.  Miss  Beaufain  (as  she  was  then) 
asked  the  Earl  how  he  liked  America;  and  he 
replied,  very  well,  except  for  the  people,  who  were 
so  vulgar.  '  What  can  you  expect  ? '  said  Miss 
Beaufain;  'we're  descended  from  the  English.'  I 
am  very  sorry  for  Maria  —  for  Mrs.  St.  Michael 
—  just  at  present.  Her  young  cousin,  John  May- 
rant,  is  making  an  alliance  deeply  vexatious  to 
her.  Do  you  happen  to  know  Miss  Hortense 
Rieppe  ? " 

I  had  never  heard  of  her. 

"  No  ?  She  has  been  North  lately.  I  thought 
you  might  have  met  her.  Her  father  takes  her 
North,  I  believe,  whenever  any  one  will  invite 
them.  They  have  sometimes  managed  to  make 
it  extend  through  an  unbroken  year.  Newport,  I 
am  credibly  informed,  greatly  admires  her.  We 
in  Kings  Port  have  never  (except  John  Mayrant, 
apparently)  seen  anything  in  her  beauty,  which 
Northerners  find  so  exceptional." 

"  What  is  her  type  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"I  consider  that  she  looks  like' a  steel  wasp. 
And  she  has  the  assurance  to  call  herself  a  Kings 


28  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Port  girl.  Her  father  calls  himself  a  general,  and 
it  is  repeated  that  he  ran  away  at  the  battle  of 
Chattanooga.  I  hope  you  will  come  to  see  me 
another  day,  when  you  can  spare  time  from  the 
battle  of  Cowpens.  I  am  Mrs.  Weguelin  St. 
Michael,  the  other  lady  is  Mrs.  Gregory  St. 
Michael.  I  wonder  if  you  will  keep  us  all 
straight  ? "  And  smiling,  the  little  lady,  whose 
shy  manner  and  voice  I  had  found  to  veil  as 
much  spirit  as  her  predecessor's,  dismissed  me 
and  went  up  her  steps,  letting  herself  into  her 
own  house. 

The  boy  in  question,  the  boy  of  the  cake,  John 
Mayrant,  was  coming  out  of  the  gate  at  which  I 
next  rang.  The  appearance  of  his  boyish  figure 
and  well-carried  head  struck  me  anew,  as  it  had 
at  first ;  from  his  whole  person  one  got  at  once  a 
strangely  romantic  impression.  He  looked  at  me, 
made  as  if  he  would  speak,  but  passed  on.  Prob 
ably  he  had  been  hearing  as  much  about  me  as  I 
had  been  hearing  about  him.  At  this  house  the 
black  servant  had  not  gone  home  for  the  night, 
and  if  the  mistress  had  been  out  to  take  a  look  at 
the  steam  yacht,  she  had  returned. 

"  My  sister,"  she  said,  presenting  me  to  a  su 
premely  fine-looking  old  lady,  more  chiselled,  more 
august,  than  even  herself.  I  did  not  catch  this 
lady's  name,  and  she  confined  herself  to  a  distant, 
though  perhaps  not  unfriendly,  greeting.  She 
was  sitting  by  a  work-table,  and  she  resumed 
some  embroidery  of  exquisite  appearance,  while 
my  hostess  talked  to  me. 

Both  wore  their  hair  in  a  simple  fashion  to  suit 
their  years,  which  must  have  been  seventy  or 


KINGS   PORT  TALKS  29 

more;  both  were  dressed  with  the  dignity  that 
such  years  call  for ;  and  I  may  mention  here  that 
so  were  all  the  ladies  above  a  certain  age  in  this 
town  of  admirable  old-fashioned  propriety.  In 
New  York,  in  Boston,  in  Philadelphia,  ladies  of 
seventy  won't  be  old  ladies  any  more;  they're 
unwilling  to  wear  their  years  avowedly,  in  quiet 
dignity  by  their  firesides ;  they  bare  their  bosoms 
and  gallop  egregiously  to  the  ball-rooms  of  the 
young ;  and  so  we  lose  a  particular  graciousness 
that  Kings  Port  retains,  a  perspective  of  genera 
tions.  We  happen  all  at  once,  with  no  back 
ground,  in  a  swirl  of  haste  and  similarity. 

One  of  the  many  things  which  came  home  to 
me  during  the  conversation  that  now  began  (so 
many  more  things  came  home  than  I  can  tell 
you  ! )  was  that  Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael's  tongue 
was  assuredly  "  downright "  for  Kings  Port.  This 
I  had  not  at  all  taken  in  while  she  talked  to  me, 
and  her  friend's  reference  to  it  had  left  me  some 
what  at  a  loss.  That  better  precision  and  choice 
of  words  which  I  have  mentioned,  and  the  man 
ner  in  which  she  announced  her  opinions,  had  put 
me  in  mind  of  several  fine  ladies  whom  I  had 
known  in  other  parts  of  the  world ;  but  hers  was 
an  individual  manner,  I  was  soon  to  find,  and  by 
no  means  the  Kings  Port  convention.  This  con 
vention  permitted,  indeed,  condemnations  of  one's 
neighbor  no  less  sweeping,  but  it  conveyed  them 
in  a  phraseology  far  more  restrained. 

"  I  cannot  regret  your  coming  to  Kings  Port," 
said  my  hostess,  after  we  had  talked  for  a  little 
while,  and  I  had  complimented  the  balmy  March 
weather  and  the  wealth  of  blooming  flowers ; 


3o  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  but  I  fear  that  Fanning  is  not  a  name  that  you 
will  find  here.  It  belongs  to  North  Carolina." 

I  smiled  and  explained  that  North  Carolina 
Fannings  were  useless  to  me.  "  And,  if  I  may  be 
so  bold,  how  well  you  are  acquainted  with  my 
errand !  " 

I  cannot  say  that  my  hostess  smiled,  that 
would  be  too  definite ;  but  I  can  say  that  she  did 
not  permit  herself  to  smile,  and  that  she  let  me 
see  this  repression.  "  Yes,"  she  said,  "  we  are 
acquainted  with  your  errand,  though  not  with  its 
motive." 

I  sat  silent,  thinking  of  the  Exchange. 

My  hostess  now  gave  me  her  own  account  of 
why  all  things  were  known  to  all  people  in  this 
town.  "  The  distances  in  your  Northern  cities 
are  greater,  and  their  population  is  much  greater. 
There  are  but  few  of  us  in  Kings  Port."  In  these 
last  words  she  plainly  told  me  that  those  "few" 
desired  no  others.  She  next  added:  "My  nephew, 
John  Mayrant,  has  spoken  of  you  at  some 
length." 

I  bowed.  "  I  had  the  pleasure  to  see  and  hear 
him  order  a  wedding  cake." 

"  Yes.  From  Eliza  La  Heu,1  my  niece ;  he  is 
my  nephew,  she  is  my  niece  on  the  other  side. 
My  niece  is  a  beginner  at  the  Exchange.  We 
hope  that  she  will  fulfil  her  duties  there  in  a 
worthy  manner.  She  comes  from  a  family  which 
is  schooled  to  meet  responsibilities." 

I  bowed  again  ;  again  it  seemed  fitting.  "  I 
had  not,  until  now,  known  the  charming  girl's 
name,"  I  murmured. 

'    '  1  Pronounced  Layhew. 


KINGS   PORT  TALKS  31 

My  hostess  now  bowed  slightly.  "  I  am  glad 
that  you  find  her  charming." 

"  Indeed,  yes!  "  I  exclaimed. 

"  We,  also,  are  pleased  with  her.  She  is  of 
good  family  —  for  the  up-country." 

Once  again  our  alphabet  fails  me.  The  pecul 
iar  shade  of  kindness,  of  recognition,  of  patron 
age,  which  my  agreeable  hostess  (and  all  Kings 
Port  ladies,  I  soon  noticed)  imparted  to  the  word 
"  up-country  "  cannot  be  conveyed  except  by  the 
human  voice  —  and  only  a  Kings  Port  voice  at 
that.  It  is  a  much  lighter  damnation  than  what 
they  make  of  the  phrase  "from  Georgia,"  which 
I  was  soon  to  hear  uttered  by  the  lips  of  the 
lady.  "  And  so  you  know  about  his  wedding 
cake?" 

"  My  dear  madam,  I  feel  that  I  shall  know  about 
everything." 

Her  gray  eyes  looked  at  me  quietly  for  a  mo 
ment.  "  That  is  possible.  But  although  we  may 
talk  of  ourselves  to  you,  we  scarcely  expect  you  to 
talk  of  ourselves  to  us." 

Well,  my  pertness  had  brought  me  this  quite 
properly !  And  I  received  it  properly.  "  I 
should  never  dream  —  "I  hastened  to  say ;  "  even 
without  your  warning.  I  find  I'm  expected  to 
have  seen  the,  young  lady  of  his  choice,"  I  now 
threw  out.  My  accidental  words  proved  as  miracu 
lous  as  the  staff  which  once  smote  the  rock.  It 
was  a  stream,  indeed,  which  now  broke  forth  from 
her  stony  discretion.  She  began  easily.  "  It 
is  evident  that  you  have  not  seen  Miss  Rieppe  by 
the  manner  in  which  you  allude  to  her  —  although 
of  course,  in  comparison  with  my  age,  she  is  a 


* 


32  LADY   BALTIMORE 

young  girl."  I  think  that  this  caused  me  to  open 
my  mouth. 

"  The  disparity  between  her  years  and  my 
nephew's  is  variously  stated,"  continued  the  old 
lady.  "  But  since  John's  engagement  we  have  all 
of  us  realized  that  love  is  truly  blind." 

I  did  not  open  my  mouth  any  more ;  but  my 
mind's  mouth  was  wide  open. 

My  hostess  kept  it  so.  "  Since  John  Mayrant 
was  fifteen  he  has  had  many  loves  ;  and  for  myself, 
knowing  him  and  believing  in  him  as  I  do,  I  feel 
confident  that  he  will  make  no  connection  dis 
tasteful  to  the  family  when  he  really  comes  to 
marry." 

This  time  I  gasped  outright.  "  But  —  the  cake  ! 
—  next  Wednesday  !  " 

She  made,  with  her  small  white  hand,  a  slight 
and  slighting  gesture.  "  The  cake  is  not  baked 
yet,  and  we  shall  see  what  we  shall  see."  From 
this  onward  until  the  end  a  pinkness  mounted  in 
her  pale,  delicate  cheeks,  and  deep,  strong  resent 
ment  burned  beneath  her  discreetly  expressed 
indiscretions.  "  The  cake  is  not  baked,  and  I,  at 
least,  am  not  solicitous.  I  tell  my  cousin,  Mrs. 
Gregory  St.  Michael,  that  she  must  not  forget  it 
was  merely  his  phosphates.  That  girl  would 
never  have  looked  at  John  Mayrant  had  it  not 
been  for  the  rumor  of  his  phosphates.  I  suppose 
some  one  has  explained  to  you  her  pretensions  of 
birth.  Away  from  Kings  Port  she  may  pass  for 
a  native  of  this  place,  but  they  come  from  Georgia. 
It  cannot  be  said  that  she  has  met  with  encour 
agement  from  us  ;  she,  however,  easily  recovers 
from  such  things.  The  present  generation  of 


f^Tffj  /V> 


V> 


Although  we    may  talk    of    ourselves    to   you,  we  scarcely  expect 
you  to  talk  of  ourselves  to  us'  " 


KINGS   PORT  TALKS  35 

young  people  in  Kings  Port  has  little  enough  to 
remind  us  of  what  we  stood  for  in  manners  and 
customs,  but  we  are  not  accountable  for  her,  nor 
for  her  father.  I  believe  that  he  is  called  a  gen 
eral.  His  conduct  at  Chattanooga  was  conspicu 
ous  for  personal  prudence.  Both  of  them  are 
skilful  in  never  knowing  poor  people  —  but  the 
Northerners  they  consort  with  must  really  be  at 
a  loss  how  to  bestow  their  money.  Of  course, 
such  Northerners  cannot  realize  the  difference 
between  Kings  Port  and  Georgia,  and  conse 
quently  they  make  much  of  her.  Her  features  do 
undoubtedly  possess  beauty.  A  Newport  woman 
—  the  new  kind  —  has  even  taken  her  to  Worth  ! 
And  yet,  after  all,  she  has  remained  for  John.  We 
heard  a  great  deal  of  her  men,  too.  She  took 
care  of  that,  of  course.  John  Mayrant  actually 
followed  her  to  Newport." 

"  But,"  I  couldn't  help  crying  out,  "  I  thought 
he  was  so  poor!" 

"  The  phosphates,"  my  hostess  explained. 
"  They  had  been  discovered  on  his  land.  And 
none  of  her  New  York  men  had  come  forward. 
So  John  rushed  back  happy."  At  this  point  a 
very  singular  look  came  over  the  face  of  my 
hostess,  and  she  continued  :  "  There  have  been 
many  false  reports  (and  false  hopes  in  conse^ 
quence)  based  upon  the  phosphate  discoveries. 
It  was  I  who  had  to  break  it  to  him  —  what 
further  investigation  had  revealed.  Poor  John  !  " 

"  He  has,  then,  nothing  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  His  position  in  the  Custom  House,  and  a 
penny  or  two  from  his  mother's  fortune." 

"  But  the  cake  ?  "  I  now  once  again  reminded 
her. 


36  LADY   BALTIMORE 

My  hostess  lifted  her  delicate  hand  and  let  it 
fall.  Her  resentment  at  the  would-be  intruder  by 
marriage  still  mounted.  "  Not  even  from  that 
pair  would  I  have  believed  such  a  thing  possible  !  " 
she  exclaimed ;  and  she  went  into  a  long,  low, 
contemplative  laugh,  looking  not  at  me,  but  at 
the  fire.  Our  silent  companion  continued  to  em 
broider.  "  That  girl,"  my  hostess  resumed,  "  and 
her  discreditable  father  played  on  my  nephew's 
youth  and  chivalry  to  the  tune  of  —  well,  you  have 
heard  the  tune." 

"  You  mean  —  you  mean  —  ?  "  I  couldn't  quite 
take  it  in. 

"  Yes.  They  rattled  their  poverty  at  him  until 
he  offered  and  they  accepted." 

I  must  have  stared  grotesquely  now.  "  That  — 
that  —  the  cake  —  and  that  sort  of  thing  —  at  his 
expense  ? " 

"  My  dear  sir,  I  shall  be  glad  if  you  can  find  me 
anything  that  they  have  ever  done  at  their  own 
expense ! " 

I  doubt  if  she  would  ever  have  permitted  her 
speech  such  freedom  had  not  the  Rieppes  been 
"  from  Georgia  " ;  I  am  sure  that  it  was  anger  — 
family  anger,  race  anger  —  which  had  broken 
forth  ;  and  I  think  that  her  silent,  severe  sister 
scarcely  approved  of  such  breaking  forth  to  me,  a 
stranger.  But  indignation  had  worn  her  reticence 
thin,  and  I  had  happened  to  press  upon  the  weak 
place.  After  my  burst  of  exclamation  I  came  back 
to  it.  "  So  you  think  Miss  Rieppe  will  get  out  of 
it  ? " 

"  It  is  my  nephew  who  will  'get  out  of  it,'  as 
you  express  it." 


KINGS   PORT  TALKS  37 

I  totally  misunderstood  her.  "  Oh  !  "  I  protested 
stupidly.  "  He  doesn't  look  like  that.  And  it 
takes  all  meaning  from  the  cake." 

"  Do  not  say  cake  to  me  again  ! "  said  the  lady, 
smiling  at  last.  "  And  —  will  you  allow  me  to 
tell  you  that  I  do  not  need  to  have  my  nephew, 
John  Mayrant,  explained  to  me  by  any  one  ?  I 
merely  meant  to  say  that  he,  and  not  she,  is  the 
person  who  will  make  the  lucky  escape.  Of 
course,  he  is  honorable  —  a  great  deal  too  much 
so  for  his  own  good.  It  is  a  misfortune,  nowadays, 
to  be  born  a  gentleman  in  America.  But,  as 
I  told  you,  I  am  not  solicitous.  What  she  is 
counting  on  —  because  she  thinks  she  under 
stands  true  Kings  Port  honor,  and  does  not  in 
the  least — is  his  renouncing  her  on  account  of 
the  phosphates  —  the  bad  news,  I  mean.  They 
could  live  on  what  he  has  —  not  at  all  in  her  way, 
though  —  and  besides,  after  once  offering  his 
genuine,  ardent,  foolish  love — for  it  was  genuine 
enough  at  the  time  —  John  would  never  —  " 

She  stopped ;  but  I  took  her  up.  "  Did  I 
understand  you  to  say  that  his  love  was  genuine 
at  the  time  ?  " 

"Oh,  he  thinks  it  is  now  —  insists  it  is  now! 
That  is  just  precisely  what  would  make  him  — 
do  you  not  see  ?  —  stick  to  his  colors  all  the 
closer." 

"  Goodness  !  "  I  murmured.  "  What  a  predica 
ment  !  " 

But  my  hostess  nodded  easily.  "  Oh,  no.  You 
will  see.  They  will  all  see." 

I  rose  to  take  my  leave  ;  my  visit,  indeed,  had 
been,  for  very  interest,  prolonged  beyond  the 


38  LADY   BALTIMORE 

limits  of  formality  —  my  hostess  had  attended 
quite  thoroughly  to  my  being  entertained.  And 
at  this  point  the  other,  the  more  severe  and  elderly 
lady,  made  her  contribution  to  my  entertainment. 
She  had  kept  silence,  I  now  felt  sure,  because 

fossip  was  neither  her  habit  nor  to  her  liking, 
ossibly  she  may  have  also  felt  that  her  displeas 
ure  had  been  too  manifest ;  at  any  rate,  she  spoke 
out  of  her  silence  in  cold,  yet  rich,  symmetrical 
tones. 

"  This,  I  understand,  is  your  first  visit  to  Kings 
Port?" 

I  told  her  that  it  was. 

She  laid  down  her  exquisite  embroidery.  "  It 
has  been  thought  a  place  worth  seeing.  There  is 
no  town  of  such  historic  interest  at  the  North." 

Standing  by  my  chair,  I  assured  her  that  I  did 
not  think  there  could  be. 

"  I  heard  you  allude  to  my  half-sister-in-law, 
Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael.  It  was  at  the  house 
where  she  now  lives  that  the  famous  Miss  Beau- 
fain  (as  she  was  then)  put  the  Earl  of  Mainridge 
in  his  place,  at  the  reception  which  her  father 
gave  the  English  visitor  in  1840. .  The  Earl  con 
ducted  himself  as  so  many  Englishmen  seem  to 
think  they  can  in  this  country;  and  on  her  asking 
him  how  he  liked  America,  he  replied,  very  well, 
except  for  the  people,  who  were  so  vulgar. 

" '  What  can  you  expect  ? '  said  Miss  Beaufain ; 
'  we're  descended  from  the  English.' 

"  But  I  suppose  you  will  tell  me  that  your 
Northern  beauties  can  easily  outmatch  such  wit." 

I  hastened  to  disclaim  any  such  pretension ; 
and  having  expressed  my  appreciation  of  the  anec- 


KINGS   PORT   TALKS  39 

dote,  I  moved  to  the  door  as  the  stately  lady  re 
sumed  her  embroidery. 

My  hostess  had  a  last  word  for  me.  "  Do  not 
let  the  cake  worry  you." 

Outside  the  handsome  old  iron  gate  I  looked  at 
my  watch  and  found  that  for  this  day  I  could 
spend  no  more  time  upon  visiting. 


IV 

THE    GIRL    BEHIND    THE    COUNTER 1 

T  FEAR  —  no;  to  say  one  "fears"  that  one  has 
•*•  stepped  aside  from  the  narrow  path  of  duty, 
when  one  knows  perfectly  well  that  one  has  done 
so,  is  a  ridiculous  half-dodging  of  the  truth;  let 
me  dismiss  from  my  service  such  a  cowardly  cir 
cumlocution,  and  squarely  say  that  I  neglected 
the  Cowpens  during  certain  days  which  now 
followed.  Nay,  more;  I  totally  deserted  them. 
Although  I  feel  quite  sure  that  to  discover  one 
is  a  real  king's  descendant  must  bring  an  exulta 
tion  of  no  mean  order  to  the  heart,  there's  no 
exultation  whatever  in  failing  to  discover  this, 
day  after  day.  Mine  is  a  nature  which  demands 
results,  or  at  any  rate  signs  of  results  coming 
sooner  or  later.  Even  the  most  abandoned  fish 
erman  requires  a  bite  now  and  then ;  but  my 
fishing  for  Fannings  had  not  yet  brought  me  one 
single  nibble  —  and  I  gave  up  the  sad  sport  for 
a  while.  The  beautiful  weather  took  me  out  of 
doors  over  the  land,  and  also  over  the  water,  for 
I  am  a  great  lover  of  sailing ;  and  I  found  a  little 
cat-boat  and  a  little  negro,  both  of  which  suited 
me  very  well.  I  spent  many  delightful  hours  in 
their  company  among  the  deeps  and  shallows  of 
these  fair  Southern  waters. 

And  indoors,  also,  I  made  most  agreeable  use 

4o 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — I        41 

of  my  time,  in  spite  of  one  disappointment.  When, 
on  the  day  following  my  visit  to  the  ladies,  I  re 
turned  full  of  expectancy  to  lunch  at  the  Woman's 
Exchange,  the  girl  behind  the  counter  was  not 
there.  I  found  in  her  stead,  it  is  true,  a  most 
polite  lady,  who  provided  me  with  chocolate  and 
sandwiches  that  were  just  as  good  as  their  prede 
cessors  ;  but  she  was  of  advanced  years,  and  little 
inclined  to  light  conversation.  Beyond  telling  me 
that  Miss  Eliza  La  Heu  was  indisposed,  but  not 
gravely  so,  and  that  she  was  not  likely  to  be  long 
away  from  her  post  of  duty,  this  lady  furnished 
me  with  scant  information. 

Now  I  desired  a  great  deal  of  information.  To 
learn  of  an  imminent  wedding  where  the  bride 
groom  attends  to  the  cake,  and  is  suspected  of 
diminished  eagerness  for  the  bride,  who  is  a  steel 
wasp  —  that  is  not  enough  to  learn  of  such  nup 
tials.  Therefore  I  fear — I  mean,  I  know  —  that 
it  was  not  wholly  for  the  sake  of  telling  Mrs. 
Gregory  St.  Michael  about  Aunt  Carola  that  I 
repaired  again  to  Le  Maire  Street  and  rang  Mrs. 
St.  Michael's  door-bell. 

She  was  at  home,  to  be  sure,  but  with  her  sat 
another  visitor,  the  tall,  severe  lady  who  had  em 
broidered  and  had  not  liked  the  freedom  with 
which  her  sister  had  spoken  to  me  about  the  wed 
ding.  There  was  not  a  bit  of  freedom  to-day; 
the  severe  lady  took  care  of  that. 

When,  after  some  utterly  unprofitable  conversa 
tion,  I  managed  to  say  in  a  casual  voice,  which  I 
thought  very  well  tuned  for  the  purpose,  "  What 
part  of  Georgia  did  you  say  that  General  Rieppe 
came  from  ?  "  the  severe  lady  responded  :  — 


42  LADY   BALTIMORE  x 

"  I  do  not  think  that  I  mentioned  him  at  all." 

"  Georgia  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael.  "  I 
never  heard  that  they  came  from  Georgia." 

And  this  revived  my  hopes.  But  the  severe 
lady  at  once  remarked  to  her:  — 

"  I  have  received  a  most  agreeable  letter  from 
my  sister  in  Paris." 

This  stopped  Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael,  and 
dashed  my  hopes  to  earth. 

The  severe  lady  continued  to  me :  — 

"  My  sister  writes  of  witnessing  a  performance 
of  the  opera  Lohengrin.  Can  you  tell  me  if  it  is 
a  composition  of  merit  ?  " 

I  assured  her  that  it  was  a  composition  of  the 
highest  merit. 

"  It  is  many  years  since  I  have  heard  an  opera," 
she  pursued.  "  In  my  day  the  works  of  the  Italians 
were  much  applauded.  But  I  doubt  if  Mozart  will 
be  surpassed.  I  hope  you  admire  the  Nozze  ?  " 

You  will  not  need  me  to  tell  you  that  I  came 
out  of  Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael's  house  little 
wiser  than  I  went  in.  My  experience  did  not 
lead  me  to  abandon  all  hope.  I  paid  other  visits 
to  other  ladies ;  but  these  answered  my  inquiries 
in  much  the  same  sort  of  way  as  had  the  lady 
who  admired  Mozart.  They  spoke  delightfully  of 
travel,  books,  people,  and  of  the  colonial  renown 
of  Kings  Port  and  its  leading  families ;  but  it  is 
scarce  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  Mozart  was  as 
near  the  cake,  the  wedding,  or  the  steel  wasp  as  I 
came  with  any  of  them.  By  patience,  however, 
and  mostly  at  our  boarding-house  table,  I  gathered 
a  certain  knowledge,  though  small  in  amount. 

If   the    health    of    John    Mayrant's   mother,    I 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — I        43 

learned,  had  allowed  that  lady  to  bring  him  up 
herself,  many  follies  might  have  been  saved  the 
youth.  His  aunt,  Miss  Eliza  St.  Michael,  though 
a  pattern  of  good  intentions,  was  not  always  a 
pattern  of  wisdom.  Moreover,  how  should  a 
spinster  bring  up  a  boy  fitly? 

Of  the  Rieppes,  father  and  daughter,  I  also 
learned  a  little  more.  They  did  not  (most  people 
believed)  come  from  Georgia.  Natchez  and  Mo 
bile  seemed  to  divide  the  responsibility  of  giving 
them  to  the  world.  It  was  quite  certain  the  Gen 
eral  had  run  away  from  Chattanooga.  Nobody 
disputed  this,  or  offered  any  other  battle  as  the 
authentic  one.  Of  late  the  Rieppes  were  seldom 
to  be  seen  in  Kings  Port.  Their  house  (if  it  had 
ever  been  their  own  property,  which  I  heard  hotly 
argued  both  ways)  had  been  sold  more  than  two 
years  ago,  and  their  recent  brief  sojourns  in  the 
town  were  generally  beneath  the  roof  of  hospit 
able  friends  —  people  by  the  name  of  Cornerly, 
"whom  we  do  not  know,"  as  I  was  carefully  in 
formed  by  more  than  one  member  of  the  St. 
Michael  family.  The  girl  had  disturbed  a  num 
ber  of  mothers  whose  sons  were  prone  to  slip  out 
of  the  strict  hereditary  fold  in  directions  where 
beauty  or  champagne  was  to  be  found ;  and  the 
Cornerlys  dined  late,  and  had  champagne.  Miss 
Hortense  had  "  splurged  it  "  a  good  deal  here,  and 
the  measure  of  her  success  with  the  male  youth 
was  the  measure  of  her  condemnation  by  their 
female  elders. 

Such  were  the  facts  which  I  gathered  from 
women  and  from  the  few  men  whom  I  saw  in 
Kings  Port.  This  town  seemed  to  me  almost  as 


44  LADY   BALTIMORE 

empty  of  men  as  if  the  Pied  Piper  had  passed 
through  here  and  lured  them  magically  away  to 
some  distant  country.  It  was  on  the  happy  day 
that  saw  Miss  Eliza  La  Heu  again  providing  me 
with  sandwiches  and  chocolate  that  my  knowl 
edge  of  the  wedding  and  the  bride  and  groom 
began  really  to  take  some  steps  forward. 

It  was  not  I  who,  at  my  sequestered  lunch  at 
the  Woman's  Exchange,  began  the  conversation 
the  next  time.  That  confection,  "  Lady  Balti 
more,"  about  which  I  was  not  to  worry  myself, 
had,  as  they  say,  "  broken  the  ice  "  between  the 
girl  behind  the  counter  and  myself. 

"  He  has  put  it  off ! "  This,  without  any 
preliminaries,  was  her  direct  and  stimulating 
news. 

I  never  was  more  grateful  for  the  solitude  of 
the  Exchange,  where  I  had,  before  this,  noted  and 
blessed  an  absence  of  lunch  customers  as  prevail 
ing  as  the  trade  winds ;  the  people  I  saw  there 
came  to  talk,  not  to  purchase.  Well,  I  was  cer 
tainly  henceforth  coming  for  both  ! 

I  eagerly  plunged  in  with  the  obvious  ques 
tion  :  — 

"Indefinitely?" 

"  Oh,  no !     Only  Wednesday  week." 

"  But  will  it  keep  ?  " 

My  ignorance  diverted  her.  "  Lady  Baltimore  ? 
Why,  the  z'dea !  "  And  she  laughed  at  me  from 
the  immense  distance  that  the  South  is  from  the 
North. 

"  Then  he'll  have  to  pay  for  two  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no !  I  wasn't  going  to  make  it  till  Tues 
day." 


THE   GIRL  BEHIND   THE  COUNTER— I        45 

"  I  didn't  suppose  that  kind  of  thing  would 
keep,"  I  muttered  rather  vaguely. 

Her  young  spirits  bubbled  over.  "  Which  kind 
of  thing  ?  The  wedding  —  or  the  cake  ?  " 

This  produced  a  moment  of  laughter  on  the 
part  of  us  both ;  we  giggled  joyously  together 
amid  the  silence  and  wares  for  sale,  the  painted 
cups,  the  embroidered  souvenirs,  the  new  food,  and 
the  old  family  "  pieces." 

So  this  delightful  girl  was  a  verbal  skirmisher ! 
Now  nothing  is  more  to  my  liking  than  the  verbal 
skirmish,  and  therefore  I  began  one  immediately. 
"  I  see  you  quite  know,"  was  the  first  light  shot 
that  I  hazarded. 

Her  retort  to  this  was  merely  a  very  bland  and 
inquiring  stare. 

I  now  aimed  a  trifle  nearer  the  mark.  "  About 
him  —  her  —  it !  Since  you  practically  live  in  the 
Exchange,  how  can  you  exactly  help  yourself  ? " 

Her  laughter  came  back.  "  It's  all,  you  know, 
so  much  later  than  1812." 

"  Later !     Why,  a  lot  of  it  is  to  happen  yet !  " 

She  leaned  over  the  counter.  "  Tell  me  what 
you  know  about  it,"  she  said  with  caressing  in 
sinuation. 

"Oh,  well  —  but  probably  they  mean  to  have 
your  education  progress  chronologically." 

"  I  think  I  can  pick  it  up  anywhere.  We  had 
to  at  the  plantation." 

It  was  from  my  table  in  the  distant  dim  back  of 
the  room,  where  things  stood  lumpily  under  mos 
quito  netting,  that  I  told  her  my  history.  She 
made  me  go  there  to  my  lunch.  She  seemed  to 
desire  that  our  talk  over  the  counter  should  not 


46  LADY   BALTIMORE 

longer  continue.  And  so,  back  there,  over  my 
chocolate  and  sandwiches,  I  brought  out  my 
gleaned  and  arranged  knowledge  which  rang  out 
across  the  distance,  comically,  like  a  lecture.  She, 
at  her  counter,  now  and  then  busy  with  her  ledger, 
received  it  with  the  attentive  solemnity  of  a  lec 
ture.  The  ledger  might  have  been  notes  that  she 
was  dutifully  and  improvingly  taking.  After  I 
had  finished  she  wrote  on  for  a  little  while  in 
silence.  The  curly  white  dog  rose  into  sight, 
looked  amiably  and  vaguely  about,  stretched  him 
self,  and  sank  to  sleep  again  out  of  sight. 

"  That's  all  ?  "  she  asked  abruptly. 

"So  far,"  I  answered. 

"  And  what  do  you  think  of  such  a  young 
man  ?  "  she  inquired. 

"  I  know  what  I  think  of  such  a  young  woman." 

She  was  still  pensive.  "Yes,  yes,  but  then 
that  is  so  simple." 

I  had  a  short  laugh.  "  Oh,  if  you  come  to  the 
simplicity ! " 

She  nodded,  seeming  to  be  doing  sums  with 
her  pencil. 

"  Men  are  always  simple  —  when  they're  in 
love." 

I  assented.  "  And  women  —  you'll  agree  ?  — 
are  always  simple  when  they're  not !  " 

She  finished  her  sums.  "Well,  /  think  he's 
foolish ! "  she  frankly  stated.  "  Didn't  Aunt 
Josephine  think  so,  too  ?  " 

"Aunt  Josephine?" 

"Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael  —  my  great-aunt 
—  the  lady  who  embroidered.  She  brought  me 
here  from  the  plantation." 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER— I        47 

"  No,  she  wouldn't  talk  about  it.  But  don't  you 
think  it  is  your  turn  now  ?  " 

"  I've  taken  my  turn !  " 

"  Oh,  not  much.  To  say  you  think  he's  foolish 
isn't  much.  You've  seen  him  since?  " 

"  Seen  him  ?     Since  when  ?  " 

"  Here.  Since  the  postponement.  I  take  it 
he  came  himself  about  it." 

"  Yes,  he  came.  You  don't  suppose  we  dis 
cussed  the  reasons,  do  you  ?  " 

"  My  dear  young  lady,  I  suppose  nothing,  ex 
cept  that  you  certainly  must  have  seen  how  he 
looked  (he  can  blush,  you  know,  handsomely),  and 
that  you  may  have  some  knowledge  or  some 
guess  —  " 

"  Some  guess  why  it's  not  to  be  until  Wednesday 
week  ?  Of  course  he  said  why.  Her  poor,  dear 
father,  the  General,  isn't  very  well." 

"  That,  indeed,  must  be  an  anxiety  for  Johnny," 
I  remarked. 

This  led  her  to  indulge  in  some  more  merri 
ment.  "  But  he  does,"  she  then  said,  "  seem  anx 
ious  about  something." 

"  Ah,"  I  exclaimed.  "  Then  you  admit  it, 
too!" 

She  resorted  again  .to  the  bland,  inquiring 
stare. 

"  What  he  won't  admit,"  I  explained,  "  even  to 
his  intimate  Aunt,  because  he's  so  honorable." 

"  He  certainly  is  simple,"  she  commented,  in 
soft  and  pensive  tones. 

"Isn't  there  some  one,"  I  asked,  "who  could  — 
not  too  directly,  of  course  —  suggest  that  to 
him  ?  " 


48  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  I  think  I  prefer  men  to  be  simple,"  she  re 
turned  somewhat  quickly. 

"  Especially  when  they're  in  love,"  I  reminded 
her  somewhat  slowly. 

"  Do  you  want  some  Lady  Baltimore  to-day  ?  " 
she  inquired  in  the  official  Exchange  tone. 

I  rose  obediently.  "You're  quite  right,  I 
should  have  gone  back  to  the  battle  of  Cowpens 
long  ago,  and  I'll  just  say  this  —  since  you  asked 
me  what  I  thought  of  him  —  that  if  he's  de 
scended  from  that  John  Mayrant  who  fought  the 
Serapis  under  Paul  Jones — " 

"  He  is !  "  she  broke  in  eagerly. 

"  Then  there's  not  a  name  in  South  Carolina 
that  I'd  rather  have  for  my  own." 

I  intended  that  thrust  to  strike  home,  but  she 
turned  it  off  most  competently.  "  Oh,  you  mustn't 
accept  us  because  of  our  ancestors.  That's  how 
we've  been  accepting  ourselves,  and  only  look 
where  we  are  in  the  race ! " 

"  Ah  !  "  I  said,  as  a  parting  attempt,  "  don't  pre 
tend  you're  not  perfectly  satisfied  —  all  of  you  — 
as  to  where  you  are  in  the  race  !  " 

"  We  don't  pretend  anything ! "  she  flashed 
back. 


V 

THE    BOY    OF   THE    CAKE 

is  unthankful,  I  suppose,  to  call  a  day 
dreary  when  one  has  lunched  under  the 
circumstances  that  I  have  attempted  to  indicate ; 
the  bright  spot  ought  to  shine  over  the  whole. 
But  you  haven't  an  idea  what  a  nightmare  in  the 
daytime  Cowpens  was  beginning  to  be. 

I  had  thumbed  and  scanned  hundreds  of  an 
cient  pages,  some  of  them  manuscript ;  I  had  sat 
by  ancient  shelves  upon  hard  chairs,  I  had  sneezed 
with  the  ancient  dust,  and  I  had  not  put  my  finger 
upon  a  trace  of  the  right  Fanning.  I  should  have 
given  it  up,  left  unexplored  the  territory  that  re 
mained  staring  at  me  through  the  backs  of  unread 
volumes,  had  it  not  been  for  my  Aunt  Carola. 
To  her  I  owed  constancy  and  diligence,  and  so  I 
kept  at  it ;  and  the  hermit  hours  I  spent  at  Court 
and  Chancel  streets  grew  worse  as  I  knew  better 
what  rarely  good  company  was  ready  to  receive 
me.  This  Kings  Port,  this  little  city  of  oblivion, 
held,  shut  in  with  its  lavender  and  pressed-rose 
memories,  a  handful  of  people  who  were  like  that 
great  society  of  the  world,  the  high  society  of 
distinguished  men  and  women  who  exist  no  more, 
but  who  touched  history  with  a  light  hand,  and 
left  their  mark  upon  it  in  a  host  of  memoirs  and 
letters  that  we  read  to-day  with  a  starved  and  home- 
is  49 


50  LADY   BALTIMORE 

sick  longing  in  the  midst  of  our  sullen  welter  of 


democracy.     With  its  silent  houses  and  gardens, 
its  silent  streets,  its  silent  vistas  of  the  blue  water 


THE   BOY   OF  THE   CAKE  51 

in  the  sunshine,  this  beautiful,  sad  place  was  win 
ning  my  heart  and  making  it  ache.  Nowhere 
else  in  America  such  charm,  such  character, 
such  true  elegance  as  here  —  and  nowhere  else 
such  an  overwhelming  sense  of  finality !  —  the 
doom  of  a  civilization  founded  upon  a  crime.  And 
yet,  how  much  has  the  ballot  done  for  that  race  ? 
Or,  at  least,  how  much  has  the  ballot  done  for  the 
majority  of  that  race  ?  And  what  way  was  it  to 
meet  this  problem  with  the  sudden  sweeping  folly 
of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  ?  To  fling  the  "  door 
of  hope"  wide  open  before  those  within  had  learned 
the  first  steps  of  how  to  walk  sagely  through  it ! 
Ah,  if  it  comes  to  blame,  who  goes  scatheless  in 
this  heritage  of  error  ?  I  could  have  shaped  (we 
all  could,  you  know)  a  better  scheme  for  the  uni 
verse,  a  plan  where  we  should  not  flourish  at  each 
other's  expense,  where  the  lion  should  be  lying 
down  with  the  lamb  now,  where  good  and  evil 
should  not  be  husband  and  wife,  indissolubly 
married  by  a  law  of  creation. 

With  such  highly  novel  thoughts  as  these  I 
descended  the  steps  from  my  researches  at  the 
corner  of  Court  and  Chancel  streets  an  hour 
earlier  than  my  custom,  because  —  well,  I  couldn't, 
that  day,  stand  Cowpens  for  another  minute.  Up 
at  the  corner  of  Court  and  Worship  the  people 
were  going  decently  into  church  ;  it  was  a  sweet, 
gentle  late  Friday  in  Lent.  I  had  intended  keep 
ing  out-of-doors,  to  smell  the  roses  in  the  gardens, 
to  bask  in  the  soft  remnant  of  sunshine,  to  loiter 
and  peep  in  through  the  Kings  Port  garden  gates, 
up  the  silent  walks  to  the  silent  verandas.  But 
the  slow  stream  of  people  took  me,  instead,  into 


52 


LADY   BALTIMORE 


church  with  the  deeply  veiled  ladies  of  Kings  Port, 
hushed  in  their  perpetual  mourning  for  not  only, 


.   ^v  -^-i 4 


Up  the  silent  walks  to  the  silent  verandas 

I  think,  those    husbands  and  brothers  and  sons 
whom  the  war  had  turned  to  dust  forty  years  ago, 


THE   BOY   OF  THE   CAKE  53 

but  also  for  the  Cause,  the  lost  Cause,  that  died 
with  them.  I  sat  there  among  these  Christians 
suckled  in  a  creed  outworn,  envying  them  their 
well-regulated  faith ;  it,  too,  was  part  of  the  town's 
repose  and  sweetness,  together  with  the  old-fash 
ioned  roses  and  the  old-fashioned  ladies.  Men, 
also,  were  in  the  congregation  —  not  many,  to  be 
sure,  but  all  unanimously  wearing  that  expression 
of  remarkable  virtue  which  seems  always  to  visit, 
when  he  goes  to  church,  the  average  good  fellow 
who  is  no  better  than  he  should  be.  I  became, 
myself,  filled  with  this  same  decorous  inconsist 
ency,  and  was  singing  the  hymn,  when  I  caught 
sight  of  John  Mayrant.  What  lady  was  he  with  ? 
It  was  just  this  that  most  annoyingly  I  couldn't 
make  out,  because  the  unlucky  disposition  of 
things  hid  it.  I  caught  myself  craning  my  neck 
and  singing  the  hymn  simultaneously  and  with  no 
difficulty,  because  all  my  childhood  was  in  that 
hymn  ;  I  couldn't  tell  when  I  hadn't  known  words 
and  music  by  heart.  Who  was  she  ?  I  tried  for 
a  clear  view  when  we  sat  down,  and  also,  let  me 
confess,  when  we  knelt  down ;  I  saw  even  less  of 
her  so;  and  my  hope  at  the  end  of  the  service 
was  dashed  by  her  slow  but  entire  disappearance 
amid  the  engulfing  exits  of  the  other  ladies.  I 
followed  where  I  imagined  she  had  gone,  out  by  a 
side  door,  into  the  beautiful  graveyard ;  but  among 
the  flowers  and  monuments  she  was  not,  nor  was 
he ;  and  next  I  saw,  through  the  iron  gate,  John 
Mayrant  in  the  street,  walking  with  his  intimate 
aunt  and  her  more  severe  sister,  and  Miss  La  Heu. 
I  somewhat  superfluously  hastened  to  the  gate  and 
greeted  them,  to  which  they  responded  with  polite, 


54  LADY   BALTIMORE 

masterly  discouragement.  He,  however,  after  tak 
ing  off  his  hat  to  them,  turned  back,  and  I  watched 
them  pursuing  their  leisurely,  reticent  course  tow 
ard  the  South  Place.  Why  should  the  old  ladies 
strike  me  as  looking  like  a  tremendously  proper 
pair  of  conspirators  ?  I  was  wondering  this  as  I 
turned  back  among  the  tombs,  when  I  perceived 
John  Mayrant  coming  along  one  of  the  church 
yard  paths.  His  approach  was  made  at  right 
angles  with  that  of  another  personage,  the  respect 
ful  negro  custodian  of  the  place.  This  dignitary 
was  evidently  hoping  to  lead  me  among  the  monu 
ments,  recite  to  me  their  old  histories,  and  benefit 
by  my  consequent  gratitude ;  he  had  even  got  so 
far  as  smiling  and  removing  his  hat  when  John 
Mayrant  stopped  him.  The  young  man  hailed 
the  negro  by  his  first  name  with  that  particular 
and  affectionate  superiority  which  few  Northerners 
can  understand  and  none  can  acquire,  and  which 
resembles  nothing  so  much  as  the  way  in  which 
you  speak  to  your  old  dog  who  has  loved  you 
and  followed  you,  because  you  have  cared  for 
him. 

"  Not  this  time,"  John  Mayrant  said.  "  I  wish 
to  show  our  relics  to  this  gentleman  myself  —  if 
he  will  permit  me  ? "  This  last  was  a  question 
put  to  me  with  a  courteous  formality,  a  formality 
which  a  few  minutes  more  were  to  see  smashed  to 
smithereens. 

I  told  him  that  I  should  consider  myself  unde 
servedly  privileged. 

"  Some  of  these  people  are  my  people,"  he  said, 
beginning  to  move. 

The    old    custodian    stood    smiling,   familiar, 


THE   BOY   OF  THE   CAKE  55 

respectful,  disappointed.  "  Some  of  'em  my 
people,  too,  Mas'  John,"  he  cannily  observed. 

I  put  a  little  silver  in  his  hand.  "  Didn't  I  see 
a  box  somewhere,"  I  said,  "  with  something  on  it 
about  the  restoration  of  the  church  ?  " 

"  Something  on  it,  but  nothing  in  it !  "  exclaimed 
Mayrant;  at  which  moderate  pleasantry  the  custo 
dian  broke  into  extreme  African  merriment  and 
ambled  away.  "  You  needn't  have  done  it,"  pro 
tested  the  Southerner,  and  I  naturally  claimed  my 
stranger's  right  to  pay  my  respects  in  this  man 
ner.  Such  was  our  introduction,  agreeable  and 
unusual. 

A  silence  then  unexpectedly  ensued  and  the  for 
mality  fell  colder  than  ever  upon  us.  The  custo 
dian's  departure  had  left  us  alone,  looking  at  each 
other  across  all  the  unexpressed  knowledge  that 
each  knew  the  other  had.  Mayrant  had  come  im 
pulsively  back  to  me  from  his  aunts,  without  stop 
ping  to  think  that  we  had  never  yet  exchanged  a 
word  ;  both  of  us  were  now  brought  up  short,  and  it 
was  the  cake  that  was  speaking  volubly  in  our  self- 
conscious  dumbness.  It  was  only  after  this  brief, 
deep  gap  of  things  unsaid  that  John  Mayrant  came 
to  the  surface  again,  and  began  a  conversation  of 
which,  on  both  our  parts,  the  first  few  steps  were 
taken  on  the  tiptoes  of  an  archaic  politeness ;  we 
trod  convention  like  a  polished  French  floor ;  you 
might  have  expected  us,  after  such  deliberate  and 
graceful  preliminaries,  to  dance  a  verbal  minuet. 
We,  however,  danced  something  quite  different, 
and  that  conversation  lasted  during  many  days, 
and  led  us,  like  a  road,  up  hill  and  down  dale  to 
a  perfect  acquaintance.  No,  not  perfect,  but  de- 


56  LADY   BALTIMORE 

lightful ;  to  the  end  he  never  spoke  to  me  of  the 
matter  most  near  him,  and  I  but  honor  him  the 
more  for  his  reticence. 

Of  course  his  first  remark  had  to  be  about  Kings 
Port  and  me ;  had  he  understood  rightly  that  this 
was  my  first  visit? 

My  answer  was  equally  traditional. 

It  was,  next,  correct  that  he  should  allude  to 
the  weather;  and  his  reference  was  one  of  the 
two  or  three  that  it  seems  a  stranger's  destiny  al 
ways  to  hear  in  a  place  new  to  him :  he  apologized 
for  the  weather  —  so  cold  a  season  had  not,  in  his 
memory,  been  experienced  in  Kings  Port ;  it  was 
to  the  highest  point  exceptional. 

I  exclaimed  that  it  had  been,  to  my  Northern 
notions,  delightfully  mild  for  March.  "  Indeed," 
I  continued,  "  I  have  always  said  that  if  March 
could  be  cut  out  of  our  Northern  climate,  as  the 
core  is  cut  out  of  an  apple,  I  should  be  quite  sat 
isfied  with  eleven  months,  instead  of  twelve.  I 
think  it  might  prolong  one's  youth." 

The  fire  of  that  season  lighted  in  his  eyes,  but 
he  still  stepped  upon  polished  convention.  He 
assured  me  that  the  Southern  September  hurricane 
was  more  deplorable  than  any  Northern  March 
could  be.  "  Our  zone  should  be  called  the  /^tem 
perate  zone,"  said  he. 

"  But  never  in  Kings  Port,"  I  protested ;  "  with 
your  roses  out-of-doors — and  your  ladies  in 
doors  !  " 

He  bowed.     "  You  pay  us  a  high  compliment." 

I  smiled  urbanely.  "  If  the  truth  is  a  com 
pliment  ! " 

"  Our  young  ladies  are  roses,"  he  now  admitted 
with  a  delicate  touch  of  pride. 


THE   BOY   OF  THE   CAKE  57 

"  Don't  forget  your  old  ones  !  I  never  shall." 
There  was  pleasure  in  his  face  at  this  tribute, 
which,  he  could  see,  came  from  the  heart.  But, 
thus  pictured  to  him,  the  old  ladies  brought  a 
further  idea  quite  plainly  into  his  expression  ;  and 
he  announced  it.  "  Some  of  them  are  not  with 
out  thorns." 

"  What  would  you  give,"  I  quickly  replied,  "  for 
anybody  —  man  or  woman  —  who  could  not,  on 
an  occasion,  make  themselves  sharply  felt  ?  " 

To  this  he  returned  a  full  but  somewhat  absent- 
minded  assent.  He  seemed  to  be  reflecting  that 
he  himself  didn't  care  to  be  the  "  occasion  "  upon 
which  an  old  lady  rose  should  try  her  thorns ;  and 
I  was  inclined  to  suspect  that  his  intimate  aunt 
had  been  giving  him  a  wigging. 

Anyhow,  I  stood  ready  to  keep  it  up,  this  in 
terchange  of    lofty  civilities.     I,  too,  could  wear 
the  courtly  red-heels   of   eighteenth-century  pro 
cedure,  and  for  just  as  long  as  his  Southern  up 
bringing   inclined   him   to   wear   them;    I   hadn't 
known  Aunt  Carola  for  nothing!     But  we,  as  I 
have  said,  were  not  destined  to  dance  any  minuet. 
We  had  been  moving,  very  gradually,  and  with 
out  any  attention  to  our  surroundings,  to  and  fro 
in  the  beautiful  sweet  churchyard.     Flowers  were 
everywhere,    growing,    budding,   blooming;  color 
and  perfume  were  parts  of  the  very  air,  and  be 
neath  these  pretty  and  ancient  tombs,  graven  with 
old  dates  and  honorable  names,  slept  the  men  and 
women  who  had  given  Kings  Por^her  high  place 
in  our  history.     I  have  never,  in  this  country,  seen 
any  churchyard  comparable  to  this  one;  happy, 
serene  dead,   to  sleep   amid   such   blossoms   and 


58  LADY   BALTIMORE 

consecration  !  Good  taste  prevailed  here ;  distin 
guished  men  lay  beneath  memorial  stones  that 
came  no  higher  than  your  waist 
or  shoulder;  there  was  a  total 
absence  of  obscure  grocers  re-  ^ 
posing  under  gigantic  obelisks; 


A  total  absence  of  obscure  grocers  reposing  under  gigantic 
obelisks 


to  earn  a  monument  here  you  must  win  a  battle, 
or  do,  at  any  rate,  something  more  than  adulter- 


THE   BOY   OF   THE    CAKE  59 

ate  sugar  and  oil.  The  particular  monument  by 
which  young  John  Mayrant  and  I  found  ourselves 
standing,  when  we  reached  the  point  about  the 
ladies  and  the  thorns,  had  a  look  of  importance 
and  it  caught  his  eye,  bringing  him  back  to 
where  we  were.  Upon  his  pointing  to  it,  and 
before  we  had  spoken  or  I  had  seen  the  name,  I 
inquired  eagerly:  "  Not  the  lieutenant  of  the  Bon 
Homme  Richard? "  and  then  saw  that  Mayrant 
was  not  the  name  upon  it. 

My  knowledge  of  his  gallant  sea-fighting  name 
sake  visibly  gratified  him.  "  I  wish  it  were,"  he 
said ;  "  but  I  am  descended  from  this  man,  too. 
He  was  a  statesman,  and  some  of  his  brilliant 
powers  were  inherited  by  his  children  —  but  they 
have  not  come  so  far  down  as  me.  In  1840,  his 
daughter,  Miss  Beaufain  —  " 

I  laid  my  hand  right  on  his  shoulder.  "  Don't 
you  do  it,  John  Mayrant !  "  I  cried.  "  Don't  you 
tell  me  that.  Last  night  I  caught  myself  saying 
that  instead  of  my  prayers." 

Well,  it  killed  the  minuet  dead;  he  sat  flat 
down  on  the  low  stone  coping  that  bordered  the 
path  to  which  we  had  wandered  back  —  and  I  sat 
flat  down  opposite  him.  The  venerable  custodian, 
passing  along  a  neighboring  path,  turned  his  head 
and  stared  at  our  noise. 

"  Lawd,  see  those  chillun  goin'  on  !  "  he  mut 
tered.  "  Mas'  John,  don't  you  get  too  scandalous, 
tellin'  strangers  'bout  the  old  famblies." 

Mayrant  pointed  to  me.  "  He's  responsible, 
Daddy  Ben.  I'm  being  just  as  good  as  gold. 
Honest  injun  ! " 

The  custodian  marched  slowly  on  his  way,  shak- 


60  LADY   BALTIMORE 

ing  his  head.  "  Mas'  John  he  do  go  on,"  he  re 
peated.  His  office  was  not  alone  the  care  and 
the  showing  off  of  the  graveyard,  but  another  duty, 
too,  as  native  and  peculiar  to  the  soil  as  the  very 
cotton  and  the  rice :  this  loyal  servitor  cherished 
the  honor  of  the  "old  famblies,"  and  chid  their 
young  descendants  whenever  he  considered  that 
they  needed  it. 

Mayrant  now  sat  revived  after  his  collapse  of 
mirth,  and  he  addressed  me  from  his  gravestone. 
"  Yes,  I  ought  to  have  foreseen  it." 

"Foreseen  —  ?"  I  didn't  at  once  catch  the 
inference. 

"  All  my  aunts  and  cousins  have  been  talking 
to  you." 

"  Oh,  Miss  Beaufain  and  the  Earl  of  Mainridge  ! 
Well,  but  it's  quite  worth  —  " 

"  Knowing  by  heart !  "  he  broke  in  with  new 
merriment. 

I  kept  on.  "  Why  not  ?  They  tell  those  things 
everywhere  —  where  they're  so  lucky  as  to  pos 
sess  them  !  It's  a  flawless  specimen." 

"  Of  1840  repartee  ?"  He  spoke  with  increas 
ing  pauses.  "  Yes.  We  do  at  least  possess  that. 
And  some  wine  of  about  the  same  date  —  and 
even  considerably  older." 

"  All  the  better  for  age,"  I  exclaimed. 

But  the  blue  eyes  of  Mayrant  were  far  away 
and  full  of  shadow.  "  Poor  Kings  Port,"  he  said 
very  slowly  and  quietly.  Then  he  looked  at  me 
with  the  steady  look  and  the  smile  that  one  some 
times  has'  when  giving  voice  to  a  sorrowful  con 
viction  against  which  one  has  tried  to  struggle. 
"  Poor  Kings  Port,"  he  affectionately  repeated. 


Be  honest  and  say  that  you  think  so,  too 


THE   BOY   OF   THE   CAKE  63 

His  hand  tapped  lightly  two  or  three  times  upon 
the  gravestone  upon  which  he  was  seated.  "  Be 
honest  and  say  that  you  think  so,  too,"  he  de 
manded,  always  with  his  smile. 

But  how  was  I  to  agree  aloud  with  what  his 
silent  hand  had  expressed  ?  Those  inaudible  taps 
on  the  stone  spoke  clearly  enough;  they  said: 
"  Here  lies  Kings  Port,  here  lives  Kings  Port. 
Outside  of  this  is  our  true  death,  on  the  vacant 
wharves,  in  the  empty  streets.  All  that  we  have 
left  is  the  immortality  which  these  historic  names 
have  won."  How  could  I  tell  him  that  I  thought 
so,  too  ?  Nor  was  I  as  sure  of  it  then  as  he  was. 
And  besides,  this  was  a  young  man  whose  spirit 
was  almost  surely,  in  suffering ;  ill  fortune,  both 
material  and  of  the  heart,  I  seemed  to  suspect,  had 
made  him  wounded  and  bitter  in  these  immediate 
days ;  and  the  very  suppression  he  was  exercising 
hurt  him  the  more  deeply.  So  I  replied,  honestly, 
as  he  had  asked :  "  I  hope  you  are  mistaken." 

"  That's  because  you  haven't  been  here  long 
enough,"  he  declared. 

Over  us,  gently,  from  somewhere  across  the 
gardens  and  the  walls,  came  a  noiseless  water 
breeze,  to  which  the  roses  moved  and  nodded 
among  the  tombs.  They  gave  him  a  fanciful 
thought.  "  Look  at  them !  They  belong  to  us, 
and  they  know  it.  They're  saying,  '  Yes ;  yes ; 
yes,'  all  day  long.  I  don't  know  why  on  earth 
I'm  talking  in  this  way  to  you ! "  he  broke  off 
with  vivacity.  "  But  you  made  me  laugh  so." 


VI 

IN    THE    CHURCHYARD 

THEN    it   was   a   good    laugh,    indeed!"   I 
cried  heartily. 

"  Oh,  don't  let's  go  back  to  our  fine  manners !  " 
he  begged  comically.  "  We've  satisfied  each 
other  that  we  have  them  !  I  feel  so  lonely ;  and 
my  aunt  just  now  —  well,  never  mind  about  that. 
But  you  really  must  excuse  us  about  Miss  Beau- 
fain,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing.  I  see  it,  because 
I'm  of  the  new  generation,  since  the  war,  and  — 
well,  I've  been  to  other  places,  too.  But  Aunt 
Eliza,  and  all  of  them,  you  know,  can't  see  it. 
And  I  wouldn't  have  them,  either!  So  I  don't 
ever  attempt  to -explain  to  them  that  the  world  has 
to  go  on.  They'd  say,  '  We  don't  see  the  neces 
sity  ! '  When  slavery  stopped,  they  stopped,  you 
see,  just  like  a  clock.  Their  hand  points  to  1865 
—  it  has  never  moved  a  minute  since.  And  some 
day  "  —  his  voice  grew  suddenly  tender  —  "  they'll 

?o,  one  by  one,  to  join  the  still  older  ones.     And 
shall  miss  them  very  much." 
For  a  moment  I  did  not   speak,  but  watched 
the  roses    nodding  and  moving.     Then    I  said : 
"  May  I  say  that  I  shall  miss  them,  too  ?  " 

He  looked  at  me.     "  Miss  our  old  Kings  Port 
people  ?  "     He  didn't  invite  outsiders  to  do  that ! 
"  Don't  you  see  how  it  is  ?  "  I  murmured.     "  It 
was  the  same  thing  once  with  us." 

64 


IN   THE   CHURCHYARD  65 

"  The  same  thing  —  in  the  North  ?  "  His  tone 
still  held  me  off. 

"  The  same  sort  of  dear  old  people  —  I  mean 
charming,  peppery,  refined,  courageous  people; 
in  Salem,  in  Boston,  in  New  York,  in  every  place 
that  has  been  colonial,  and  has  taken  a  hand  in 
the  game."  And,  as  certain  beloved  memories  of 
men  and  women  rose  in  my  mind,  I  continued  : 
"  If  you  knew  some  of  the  Boston  elder  people  as 
I  have  known  them,  you  would  warm  with  the 
same  admiration  that  is  filling  me  as  I  see  your 
people  of  Kings  Port." 

"But  politics ?"  the  young  Southerner  slowly 
suggested. 

"Oh,  hang  slavery!  Hang  the  war!"  I  ex 
claimed.  "Of  course,  we  had  a  family  quarrel. 
But  we  were  a  family  once,  and  a  fine  one,  too ! 
We  knew  each  other,  we  visited  each  other,  we 
wrote  letters,  sent  presents,  kept  up  relations  ;  we, 
in  short,  coherently  joined  hands  from  one  gener 
ation  to  another;  the  fibres  of  the  sons  tingled 
with  the  current  from  their  fathers,  back  and  back 
to  the  old  beginnings,  to  Plymouth  and  Roanoke 
and  Rip  Van  Winkle !  It's  all  gone,  all  done,  all 
over.  You  have  to  be  a  small,  well-knit  country 
for  that  sort  of  exquisite  personal  unitedness. 
There's  nothing  united  about  these  States  any 
more,  except  Standard  Oil  and  discontent.  We're 
no  longer  a  small  people  living  and  dying  for  a 
great  idea ;  we're  a  big  people  living  and  dying 
for  money.  And  these  ladies  of  yours  —  well, 
they  have  made  me  homesick  for  a  national  and 
a  social  past  which  I  never  saw,  but  which  my^old 
people  knew.  They're  like  legends,  still  living, 


66  LADY   BALTIMORE 

still  warm  and  with  us.  In  their  quiet  clean-cut 
faces  I  seem  to  see  a  reflection  of  the  old  serene 
candlelight  we  all  once  talked  and  danced  in  — 
sconces,  tall  mirrors,  candles  burning  inside  glass 
globes  to  keep  them  from  the  moths  and  the  draft 
that,  of  a  warm  evening,  blew  in  through  hand 
some  mahogany  doors ;  the  good  bright  silver ; 
the  portraits  by  Copley  and  Gilbert  Stuart ;  a 
young  girl  at  a  square  piano,  singing  Moore's  mel 
odies —  and  Mr.  Pinckney  or  Commodore  Perry, 
perhaps,  dropping  in  for  a  hot  supper ! " 

John  Mayrant  was  smiling  and  looking  at  the 
graves.  "  Yes,  that's  it ;  that's  all  it,"  he  mused. 
"  You  do  understand." 

But  I  had  to  finish  my  flight.  "  Such  quiet 
faces  are  gon£  now  in  the  breathless,  competing 
North :  ground  into  oblivion  between  the  clashing 
trades  of  the  competing  men  and  the  clashing 
jewels  and  chandeliers  of  their  competing  wives 
—  while  yours  have  lingered  on,  spared  by  your 
very  adversity.  And  that's  why  I  shall  miss  your 
old  people  when  they  follow  mine  —  because 
they're  the  last  of  their  kind,  the  end  of  the  chain, 
the  bold  original  stock,  the  great  race  that  made 
our  glory  grow  and  saw  that  it  did  grow  through 
thick  and  thin:  the  good  old  native  blood  of  inde 
pendence." 

I  spoke  as  a  man  can  always  speak  when  he 
means  it ;  and  my  listener's  face  showed  that  my 
words  had  gone  where  meant  words  always  go  — 
home  to  the  heart.  But  he  merely  nodded  at  me. 
His  nod,  however,  telling  as  it  did  of  a  quickly 
established  accord  between  us,  caused  me  to  bring 
out  to  this  new  acquaintance  still  more  of  those 


IN   THE   CHURCHYARD  67 

thoughts  which    I  condescend  to  expose  to  very 
few  old  ones. 

"  Haven't  you  noticed,"    I   said,  "  or  don't  you 
feel  it,  away  down  here  in  your  untainted  isolation, 
the  change,  the  great  change,  that  has  come  over 
the  American  people  ?  " 
He  wasn't  sure. 

"  They've  lost  their  grip  on  patriotism." 
He  smiled.     "  We  did  that  here  in  1861." 
"  Oh,  no!     You  left  the  Union,  but  you  loved 
what  you  considered  was  your  country,  and  you 
love  it  still.     That's  just  my  point,  just  my  strange 
discovery  in  Kings  Port.     You  retain  the  thing 
we've  lost.     Our  big  men  fifty  years  ago  thought 
of  the  country,  and  what  they  could  make  it ;  our 
big  men  to-day  think  of  the  country  and  what 
they  can  make  out  of  it.     Rather  different,  don't 
you  see?       When    I  walk   about  in  the   North, 
I  merely  meet  members  .of  trusts  or  unions  —  ac 
cording  to  the  length  of  the  individual's  purse; 
when  I  walk  about  in  Kings  Port,  I  meet  Ameri- 
canSt  —  Of   course,"    I   added,  taking  myself  up, 
"  that's  too  sweeping  a  statement.    The  right  sort  of 
American  isn't  extinct  in  the  North  by  any  means. 
But  there's  such  a  commercial  deluge  of  the  wrong 
sort,  that  the  others  sometimes  seem  to  me  sadly 
like  a  drop  in  the  bucket." 

"You  certainly  understand  it  all,"  John  May- 
rant  repeated.  "It's  amazing  to  find  you  say 
ing  things  that  I  have  thought  were  my  own 
private  notions." 

I  laughed.  "  Oh,  I  fancy  there  are  more  than 
two  of  us  in  the  country." 

"  Even  the  square  piano  and  Mr.  Pinckney,"  he 


68  LADY   BALTIMORE 

went  on.  "  I  didn't  suppose  anybody  had  thought 
things  like  that,  except  myself." 

"Oh,"  I  again  said  lightly,  "any  American  — 
any,  that  is,  of  the  world — who  has  a  colonial 
background  for  his  family,  has  thought,  probably, 
very  much  the  same  sort  of  things.  Of  course  it 
would  be  all  Greek  or  gibberish  to  the  new 
people." 

He  took  me  up  with  animation.  "  The  new 
people  !  My  goodness,  sir,  yes  !  Have  you  seen 
them  ?  Have  you  seen  Newport,  for  instance  ?  " 
His  diction  now  (and  I  was  to  learn  it  was  always 
in  him  a  sign  of  heightening  intensity)  grew  more 
and  more  like  the  formal  speech  of  his  ancestors. 
"  You  have  seen  Newport  ?  "  he  said. 

"  Yes ;  now  and  then." 

"  But  lately,  sir  ?  I  knew  we  were  behind  the 
times  down  here,  sir,  but  I  had  not  imagined  how 
much.  Not  by  any  means !  Kings  Port  has  a 
long  road  to  go  before  she  will  consider  marriage 
provincial  and  chastity  obsolete." 

"Dear  me,  Mr.  Mayrant!  Well,  I  must  tell 
you  that  it's  not  all  quite  so  —  so  advanced  — 
as  that,  you  know.  That's  not  the  whole  of 
Newport." 

He  hastened  to  explain.  "  Certainly  not,  sir ! 
I  would  not  insult  the  honorable  families  whom  I 
had  the  pleasure  to  meet  there,  and  to  whom  my 
name  was  known  because  they  had  retained  their 
good  position  since  the  days  when  my  great-uncle 
had  a  house  and  drove  four  horses  there  himself. 
I  noticed  three  kinds  of  Newport,  sir." 

"  Three  ? " 

"  Yes.    Because  I  took  letters ;  and  some  of  the 


IN   THE   CHURCHYARD  69 

letters  were  to  people  who  —  who  once  had  been, 
you  know ;  it  was  sad  to  see  the  thing,  sir,  so  plain 
against  the  glaring  proximity  of  the  other  thing. 
And  so  you  can  divide  Newport  into  those  who 
have  to  sell  their  old  family  pictures,  those  who 
have  to  buy  their  old  family  pictures,  and  the  lucky 
few  who  need  neither  buy  nor  sell,  who  are  neither 
going  down  nor  bobbing  up,  but  who  have  kept 
their  heads  above  the  American  tidal  wave  from 
the  beginning  and  continue  to  do  so.  And  I 
don't  believe  that  there  are  any  nicer  people  in  the 
world  than  those." 

"  Nowhere  !  "  I  exclaimed.  "  When  New  York 
does  her  best,  what's  better?  —  If  only  those  best 
set  the  pace  !  " 

"  If  only ! "  he  assented.  "  But  it's  the  others 
who  get  into  the  papers,  who  dine  the  drunken 
dukes,  and  make  poor  chambermaids  envious  a 
thousand  miles  inland  !  " 

"There  should  be  a  high  tariff  on  drunken 
dukes,"  I  said. 

"  You'll  never  get  it !  "  he  declared.  "  It's  the 
Republican  party  whose  daughters  marry  them." 

I  rocked  with  enjoyment  where  I  sat;  he  was 
so  refreshing.  And  I  agreed  with  him  so  well. 
"  You're  every  bit  as  good  as  Miss  Beaufain,"  I 
cried. 

"  Oh,  no ;  oh,  no  1  But  I  often  think  if  we  could 
only  deport  the  negroes  and  Newport  together  to 
one  of  our  distant  islands,  how  happily  our  two 
chief  problems  would  be  solved !  " 

I  still  rocked.  "  Newport  would,  indeed,  enjoy 
your  plan  for  it.  Do  go  on ! "  I  entreated  him. 
But  he  had,  for  the  moment,  ceased ;  and  I  rose 


70  LADY   BALTIMORE 

to  stretch  my  legs  and  saunter  among  the  old 
headstones  and  the  wafted  fragrance. 

His  aunt  (or  his  cousin,  or  whichever  of  them 
it  had  been)  was  certainly  right  as  to  his  inherit 
ing  a  pleasant  and  pointed  gift  of  speech ;  and  a 
responsive  audience  helps  us  all.  Such  an  au 
dience  I  certainly  was  for  young  John  Mayrant, 
yet  beneath  the  animation  that  our  talk  had  filled 
his  eyes  with  lay  (I  seemed  to  see  or  feel)  that 
other  mood  all  the  time,  the  mood  which  had 
caused  the  "girl  behind  the  counter  to  say  to  me 
that  he  was  "  anxious  about  something."  The  un 
happy  youth,  I  was  gradually  to  learn,  was  much 
more  than  that  —  he  was  in  a  tangle  of  anxieties. 
He  talked  to  me  as  a  sick  man  turns  in  bed  from 
pain ;  the  pain  goes  on,  but  the  pillow  for  a  while 
is  cool. 

Here  there  broke  upon  us  a  little  interruption, 
so  diverting,  so  utterly  like  the  whole  quaint  tini- 
ness  of  Kings  Port,  that  I  should  tell  it  to  you, 
even  if  it  did  not  bear  directly  upon  the  matter 
which  was  beginning  so  actively  to  concern  me  — 
the  love  difficulties  of  John  Mayrant. 

It  was  the  letter-carrier. 

We  had  come,  from  our  secluded  seats,  round 
a  corner,  and  so  by  the  vestry  door  and  down  the 
walk  beside  the  church,  and  as  I  read  to  myself 
the  initials  upon  the  stones  wherewith  the  walk 
was  paved,  I  drew  near  the  half-open  gateway 
upon  Worship  Street.  The  postman  was  de 
scending  the  steps  of  the  post-office  opposite. 
He  saw  me  through  the  gate  and  paused.  He 
knew  me,  too !  My  face,  easily  marked  out  amid 
the  resident  faces  he  was  familiar  with,  had  at 


IN  THE   CHURCHYARD  71 

once  caught  his.  attention  ;  very  likely  he,  too,  had 
by  now  learned  that  I  was  interested  in  the  battle 
of  Cowpens;  but  I  did  not  ask  him  this.  He 
crossed  over  and  handed  me  a  letter. 

"  No  use,"  he  said  most  politely,  "  takin'  it  away 
down  to  Mistress  Trevise's  when  you're  right 
here,  sir.  Northern  mail  eight  hours  late  to 
day,"  he  added,  and  bowing,  was  gone  upon  his 
route. 

My  home  letter,  from  a  man,  an  intimate  run 
ning  mate  of  mine,  soon  had  my  full  attention,  for 
on  the  second  page  it  said :  — 

"  I  have  just  got  back  from  accompanying  ^her 
to  Baltimore.  One  of  us  went  as  far  as  Washing 
ton  with  her  on  the  train.  We  gave  her  a 
dinner  yesterday  at  the  March  Hare  by  way  of 
farewell.  She  tried  our  new  toboggan  fire-escape 
on  a  bet.  Clean  from  the  attic,  my  boy.  I  im 
agine  our  native  girls  will  rejoice  at  her  depar 
ture.  However,  nobody's  engaged  to  her,  at 
least  nobody  here.  How  many  may  fancy  them 
selves  so  elsewhere  I  can't  say.  Her  name  is 
Hortense  Rieppe." 

I  suppose  I  must  have  been  silent  after  finish 
ing  this  letter. 

"  No  bad  news,  I  trust  ? "  John  Mayrant  in 
quired. 

I  told  him  no ;  and  presently  we  had  resumed 
our  seats  in  the  quiet  charm  of  the  flowers. 

I  now  spoke  with  an  intention.  "  What  a  lot 
you  seem  to  have  seen  and  suffered  of  the  ad 
vanced  Newport ! " 

The  intention  wrought  its  due  and  immediate 
effect  "  Yes.  There  was  no  choice.  I  had  gone 


72  LADY  BALTIMORE 

to  Newport  upon — upon  an  urgent  matter,  which 
took  me  among  those  people." 

He  dwelt  upon  the  pictures  that  came  up  in  his 
mind.  But  he  took  me  away  again  from  the 
"  urgent  matter."  "  I  saw,"  he  resumed  more 
briskly,  "  fifteen  or  twenty  —  most  amazing,  sir ! 
—  young  men,  some  of  them  not  any  older  than  I 
am,  who  had  so  many  millions  that  they  could 
easily  — "  he  paused,  casting  about  for  some 
expression  adequate  —  "could  buy  Kings  Port 
and  put  it  under  a  glass  case  in  a  museum  —  my 
aunts  and  all  —  and  never  know  it!  "  He  livened 
with  disrespectful  mirth  over  his  own  picture  of 
his  aunts,  purchased  by  millionaire  steel  or  coal 
for  the  purposes  of  public  edification. 

"  And  a  very  good  thing  if  they  could  be,"  I 
declared. 

He  wondered  a  moment.  "  My  aunts  ?  Under 
a  glass  case  ?  " 

"  Yes,  indeed  —  and  with  all  deference  be  it 
said !  They'd  be  more  invaluable,  more  instruc 
tive,  than  the  classics  of  a  thousand  libraries." 

He  was  prepared  not  to  be  pleased.  "  May  I 
ask  to  whom  and  for  what  ?  " 

"  Why,  you  ought  to  see !  You've  just  been 
saying  it  yourself.  They  would  teach  our  bulg 
ing  automobilists,  our  unlicked  boy  cubs,  our 
alcoholic  girls  who  shout  to  waiters  for  'high-balls' 
on  country  club  porches  —  they  would  teach  these 
wallowing  creatures,  whose  money  has  merely 
gilded  their  bristles,  what  American  refinement 
once  was.  The  manners  we've  lost,  the  decencies 
we've  banished,  the  standards  we've  lowered,  their 
light  is  still  flickering  in  this  passing  generation 


IN   THE   CHURCHYARD  73 

of  yours.  It's  the  last  torch.  That's  why  I  wish 
it  could,  somehow,  pass  on  the  sacred  fire." 

He  shook  his  head.  "  They  don't  want  the 
sacred  fire.  They  want  the  high-balls  — and  they 
have  money  enough  to  be  drunk  straight  through 
the  next  world  !  "  He  was  thoughtful.  "  They 
are  the  classics,"  he  added. 

I  didn't  see  that  he  had  gone  back  to  my  word. 
"  Roman  Empire,  you  mean  ?  " 

"  No,  the  others ;  the  old  people  we're  bidding 
good-by  to.  Roman  Republic !  Simple  lives, 
gallant  deeds,  and  one  great  uniting  inspiration. 
Liberty  winning  her  spurs.  They  were  moulded 
under  that,  and  they  are  our  true  American 
classics.  Nothing  like  them  will  happen  again." 

"Perhaps,"  I  suggested,  "our  generation  is  un 
easily  living  in  a  'bad  quarter-of-an-hour' —  good 
old  childhood  gone,  good  new  manhood  not  yet 
come,  and  a  state  of  chicken-pox  between  whiles." 
And  on  this  I  made  to  him  a  much-used  and 
consoling  quotation  about  the  old  order  chang 
ing. 

"  Who  says  that  ?  "  he  inquired  ;  and  upon  my 
telling  him,  "  I  hope  so,"  he  said,  "  I  hope  so. 
But  just  now  Uncle  Sam  'aspires  to  descend.'" 

I  laughed  at  his  counter-quotation.  "  You  know 
your  classics,  if  you  don't  know  Tennyson." 

He,  too,  laughed.     "  Don't  tell  Aunt  Eliza  !  " 

"  Tell  her  what  ?  " 

"  That  I  didn't  recognize  Tennyson.  My  Aunt 
Eliza  educated  me  —  and  she  thinks  Tennyson 
about  the  only  poet  worth  reading  since — well, 
since  Byron  and  Sir  Walter  at  the  very  latest ! 
Neither  she  nor  Sir  Walter  come  down  to  modern 


74  LADY   BALTIMORE 

poetry  —  or  to  alcoholic  girls."  His  tone,  on  these 
last  words,  changed. 

Again,  as  when  he  had  said  "  an  urgent  matter," 
I  seemed  to  feel  hovering  above  us  what  must  be 
his  ceaseless  preoccupation  ;  and  I  wondered  if  he 
had  found,  upon  visiting  Newport,  Miss  Hortense 
sitting  and  calling  for  "  high-balls." 

I  gave  him  a  lead.  "  The  worst  of  it  is  that  a  girl 
who  would  like  to  behave  herself  decently  finds 
that  propriety  puts  her  out  of  the  running.  The 
men  flock  off  to  the  other  kind." 

He  was  following  me  with  watching  eyes. 

"And  you  know,"  I  continued,  "what  an  anx 
ious  Newport  parent  does  on  finding  her  girl  on 
the  brink  of  being  a  failure." 

"  I  can  imagine,"  he  answered,  "  that  she  scolds 
her  like  the  dickens." 

"  Oh,  nothing  so  ineffectual !  She  makes  her 
keep  up  with  the  others,  you  know.  Makes  her  do 
things  she'd  rather  not  do." 

"  High-balls,  you  mean  ?  " 

"  Anything,  my  friend  ;  anything  to  keep  up." 

He  had  a  comic  suggestion.  "  Driven  to  drink 
by  her  mother !  Well,  it's,  at  any  rate,  a  new 
cause  for  old  effects."  He  paused.  It  seemed 
strangely  to  bring  to  him  some  sort  of  relief. 
"That  would  explain  a  great  deal,"  he  said. 

Was  he  thus  explaining  to  himself  his  lady-love, 
or  rather  certain  Newport  aspects  of  her  which 
had,  so  to  speak,  jarred  upon  his  Kings  Port 
notions  of  what  a  lady  might  properly  do  ?  I  sat 
on  my  gravestone  with  my  wonder,  and  my  now- 
dawning  desire  to  help  him  (if  improbably  I  could), 
to  get  him  out  of  it,  if  he  were  really  in  it ;  and 


IN   THE   CHURCHYARD  75 

he  sat  on  his  gravestone  opposite,  with  the  path 
between  us,  and  the  little  noiseless  breeze  rustling 
the  white  irises,  and  bearing  hither  and  thither 
the  soft  perfume  of  the  roses.  His  boy  face,  lean, 
high-strung,  brooding,  was  full  of  suppressed  con 
tentions.  I  made  myself,  during  our  silence, 
state  his  possible  problem :  "  He  doesn't  love  her 
any  more,  he  won't  admit  this  to  himself;  he  in 
tends  to  go  through  with  it,  and  he's  catching  at 
any  justification  of  what  he  has  seen  in  her  that 
has  chilled  him,  so  that  he  may,  poor  wretch ! 
coax  back  his  lost  illusion."  Well,  if  that  was  it, 
what  in  the  world  could  I,  or  anybody,  do  about 
it? 

His  next  remark  was  transparent  enough.  "  Do 
you  approve  of  young  ladies  smoking  ?  " 

I  met  his  question  with  another :  "  What  reasons 
can  be  urged  against  it  ?  " 

He  was  quick.  "  Then  you  don't  mind  it  ?  " 
There  was  actual  hope  in  the  way  he  rushed  at 
this. 

I  laughed.  "  I  didn't  say  I  didn't  mind  it." 
(As  a  matter  of  fact  I  do  mind  it ;  but  it  seemed 
best  not  to  say  so  to  him.) 

He  fell  off  again.  "  I  certainly  saw  very  nice 
people  doing  it  up  there." 

I  filled  this  out.  "You'll  see  very  nice  people 
doing  it  everywhere." 

"Not  in  Kings  Port!  At  least,  not  my  sort 
of  people!"  He  stifHy  proclaimed  this. 

I  tried  to  draw  him  out.  "  But  is  there,  after 
all,  any  valid  objection  to  it?" 

But  he  was  off  on  a  preceding  speculation. 
"  A  mother  or  any  parent,"  he  said,  "  might  en- 


76  LADY   BALTIMORE 

courage  the  daughter  to  smoke,  too.  And  the  girl 
might  take  it  up  so  as  not  to  be  thought  peculiar 
where  she  was,  and  then  she  might  drop  it  very 
gladly." 

I  became  specific. .  "  Drop  it,  you  mean,  when 
she  came  to  a  place  where  doing  it  would  be 
thought  —  well,  in  bad  style  ?  " 

"  Or  for  the  better  reason,"  he  answered,  "  that 
she  didn't  really  like  it  herself." 

"  How  much  you  don't '  really  like  it'jj/tf^rself!  " 
I  remarked. 

This  time  he  was  slow.  "  Well  —  well  —  why 
need  they  ?  Are  not  their  lips  more  innocent 

than   ours  ?      Is    not    the    association   somewhat 

p  » 

"  My  dear  fellow,"  I  interrupted,  "  the  associa 
tion  is,  I  think  you'll  have  to  agree,  scarcely  of 
their  making !  " 

"  That's  true  enough,"  he  laughed.  "  And,  as 
you  say,  very  nice  people  do  it  everywhere.  But 
not  here.  Have  you  ever  noticed,"  he  now  in 
quired  with  continued  transparency,  "  how  much 
harder  they  are  on  each  other  than  we  are  on 
them?" 

"  Oh,  yes !  I've  noticed  that."  I  surmised  it 
was  this  sort  of  thing  he  had  earlier  choked  him 
self  off  from  telling  me  in  his  unfinished  complaint 
about  his  aunt ;  but  I  was  to  learn  later  that  on 
this  occasion  it  was  upon  the  poor  boy  himself  and 
not  on  the  smoking  habits  of  Miss  Rieppe,  that 
his  aunt  had  heavily  descended.  I  also  reflected 
that  if  cigarettes  were  the  only  thing  he  depre 
cated  in  the  lady  of  his  choice,  the  lost  illusion 
might  be  coaxed  back.  The  trouble  was  that  / 


IN   THE   CHURCHYARD  77 

deprecated  something  fairly  distant  from  cigar 
ettes.  The  cake  was  my  quite  sufficient  trouble ; 
it  stuck  in  my  throat  worse  than  the  probably 
magnified  gossip  I  had  heard ;  this,  for  the  present, 
I  could  manage  to  swallow. 

He  came  out  now  with  a  personal  note.  "  I 
suppose  you  think  I'm  a  ninny." 

"  Never  in  the  wildest  dream !  " 

"  Well,  but  too  innocent  for  a  man,  anyhow." 

"  That  would  be  an  insult,"  I  declared  laugh 
ingly. 

"  For  I'm  not  innocent  in  the  least.  You'll  find 
we're  all  men  here,  just  as  much  as  any  men  in 
the  North  you  could  pick  out.  South  Carolina 
has  never  lacked  sporting  blood,  sir.  But  in  New 
port —  well,  sir,  we  gentlemen  down  here,  when 
we  wish  a  certain  atmosphere  and  all  that,  have 
always  been  accustomed  to  seek  the  demi-monde? 

"  So  it  was  with  us  until  the  women  changed 
it." 

"  The  women,  sir  ?  "     He  was  innocent ! 

"  The  'ladies,'  as  you  Southerners  so  chivalrously 
continue  to  style  them.  The  rich  new  fashionable 
ladies  became  so  desperate  in  their  competition 
for  men's  allegiance  that  they  —  well,  some  of  them 
would,  in  the  point  of  conversation,  greatly  scan 
dalize  the  smart  demi-monde"" 

He  nodded.  "  Yes.  I  heard  men  say  things 
in  drawing-rooms  to  ladies  that  a  gentleman  here 
would  have  been  taken  out  and  shot  for.  And 
don't  you  agree  with  me,  sir,  that  good  taste  itself 
should  be  a  sort  of  religion?  I  don't  mean  to  say 
anything  sacrilegious,  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
even  if  one  has  ceased  to  believe  some  parts  of 


78  LADY   BALTIMORE 

the  Bible,  even  if  one  does  not  always  obey  the 
Ten  Commandments,  one  is  bound,  not  as  a 
believer  but  as  a  gentleman,  to  remember  the  dif 
ference  between  grossness  and  refinement,  between 
excess  and  restraint  —  that  one  can  have  and  keep, 
just  as  the  pagan  Greeks  did,  a  moral  elegance." 

He  astonished  me,  this  ardent,  ideal,  troubled 
boy;  so  innocent  regarding  the  glaring  facts  of 
our  new  prosperity,  so  finely  penetrating  as  to 
some  of  the  mysteries  of  the  soul.  But  he  was 
of  old  Huguenot  blood,  and  of  careful  and  gentle 
upbringing;  and  it  was  delightful  to  find  such  a 
young  man  left  upon  our  American  soil  untainted 
by  the  present  fashionable  idolatries. 

"  I  bow  to  your  creed  of  '  moral  elegance,'  "  I 
cried.  "  It  never  dies.  It  has  outlasted  all  the 
mobs  and  all  the  religions." 

"  They  seemed  to  think,"  he  continued,  pursu 
ing  his  Newport  train  of  thought,  "  that  to  prove 
you  were  a  dead  game  sport  you  must  behave  like 
—  behave  like  —  " 

"  Like  a  herd  of  swine,"  I  suggested. 

He  was  merry.  "  Ah,  if  they  only  would  — 
completely!" 

"  Completely  what  ?  " 
Behave  so.     Rush  over  a  steep  place  into  the 


sea." 


We  sat  in  the  quiet  relish  of  his  Scriptural 
idea,  and  the  western  crimson  and  the  twilight 
began  to  come  and  mingle  with  the  perfumes. 
John  Mayrant's  face  changed  from  its  vivacity  to 
a  sort  of  pensive  wistfulness,  which,  for  all  the 
dash  and  spirit  in  his  delicate  features,  was  some 
how  the  final  thing  one  got  from  the  boy's  expres- 


IN   THE   CHURCHYARD  79 

sion.  It  was  as  though  the  noble  memories  of 
his  race  looked  out  of  his  eyes,  seeking  new 
chances  for  distinction,  and  found  instead  a  soil 
laid  waste,  an  empty  fatherland,  a  people  benumbed 
past  rousing.  Had  he  not  said,  "  Poor  Kings 
Port ! "  as  he  tapped  the  gravestone  ?  Moral  ele 
gance  could  scarcely  permit  a  sigh  more  direct. 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  believe  it  never  dies,"  he 
resumed.  "And  I  am  glad  to  find  somebody  .to 
—  talk  to,  you  know.  My  friends  here  are  every 
thing  friends  and  gentlemen  should  be,  but  they 
don't  —  I  suppose  it's  because  they  have  not  had 
my  special  experiences." 

I  sat  waiting  for  the  boy  to  go  on  with  it.  How 
plainly  he  was  telling  me  of  his  "special  experi 
ences  " !  He  and  his  creed  were  not  merely  in 
revolt  against  the  herd  of  swine ;  there  would  be 
nothing  special  in  that ;  I  had  met  people  before 
who  were  that;  but  he  was  tied  by  honor,  and 
soon  to  be  tied  by  the  formidable  nuptial  knot,  to 
a  specimen  devotee  of  the  cult.  He  shouldn't 
marry  her  if  he  really  did  not  want  to,  and  I  could 
stop  it !  But  how  was  I  to  begin  spinning  the 
first  faint  web  of  plan  how  I  might  stop  it,  unless 
he  came  right  out  with  the  whole  thing  ?  I  didn't 
believe  he  was  the  man  to  do  that  ever,  even  under 
the  loosening  inspiration  of  drink.  In  wine  lies 
truth,  no  doubt ;  but  within  him,  was  not  moral 
elegance  the  bottom  truth  that  would,  even  in  his 
cups,  keep  him  a  gentleman,  and  control  all  such 
revelations  ?  He  might  smash  the  glasses,  but  he 
would  not  speak  of  his  misgivings  as  to  Hortense 
Rieppe. 

He  began  again,    "  Nor   do    I    believe  that  a 


8o  LADY  BALTIMORE 

really  nice  girl  would  continue  to  think  as  those 
few  do,  if  she  once  got  safe  away  from  them. 
Why,  my  dear  sir,"  he  stretched  out  his  hand  in 
emphasis,  "  you  do  not  have  to  do  anything 
untimely  and  extreme  if  you  are  in  good  earnest 
a  dead  game  sport.  The  time  comes,  and  you 
meet  the  occasion  as  the  duck  swims.  There  was 
one  of  them  —  the  right  kind." 

"  Where  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Why  —  you're  leaning  against  her  headstone!" 

The  little  incongruity  made  us  both  laugh,  but 
it  was  only  for  the  instant.  The  tender  mood  of 
the  evening,  and  all  that  we  had  said,  sustained 
the  quiet  and  almost  grave  undertone  of  our  con 
ference.  My  own  quite  unconscious  act  of  rising 
from  the  grave  and  standing  before  him  on  the 
path  to  listen  brought  back  to  us  our  harmonious 
pensiveness. 

"  She  was  born  in  Kings  Port,  but  educated  in 
Europe.  I  don't  suppose  until  the  time  came 
that  she  ever  did  anything  harder  than  speak 
French,  or  play  the  piano,  or  ride  a  horse.  She 
had  wealth  and  so  had  her  husband.  He  was 
killed  in  the  war,  and  so  were  two  of  her  sons. 
The  third  was  too  young  to  go.  Their  fortune 
was  swept  away,  but  the  plantation  was  there,  and 
the  negroes  were  proud  to  remain  faithful  to  the 
family.  She  took  hold  of  the  plantation,  she 
walked  the  rice-banks  in  high  boots.  She  had  an 
overseer,  who,  it  was  told  her,  would  possibly  take 
her  life  by  poison  or  by  violence.  She  neverthe 
less  lived  in  that  lonely  spot  with  no  protector 
except  her  pistol  and  some  directions  about  anti 
dotes.  She  dismissed  him  when  she  had  proved 


IN   THE   CHURCHYARD  81 

he  was  cheating  her;  she  made  the  planting  pay 
as  well  as  any  man  did  after  the  war;  she  edu 
cated  her  last  son,  got  him  into  the  navy,  and 
then,  one  evening,  walking  the  river-banks  too 
late,  she  caught  the  fever  and  died.  You  will 
understand  she  went  with  one  step  from  cherished 
ease  to  single-handed  battle  with  life,  a  delicately 
nurtured  lady,  with  no  preparation  for  her  trials.'' 

"  Except  moral  elegance,"  I  murmured. 

"  Ah,  that  was  the  point,  sir !  To  see  her  you 
would  never  have  guessed  it !  She  kept  her  bur 
dens  from  the  sight  of  all.  She  wore  tribulation 
as  if  it  were  a  flower  in  her  bosom.  We  children 
always  looked  forward  to  her  coming,  because  she 
was  so  gay  and  delightful  to  us,  telling  us  stories 
of  the  old  times  —  old  rides  when  the  country  was 
wild,  old  journeys  with  the  family  and  servants  to 
the  Hot  Springs  before  the  steam  cars  were  in 
vented,  old  adventures,  with  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans  or  a  famous  duel  in  them  —  the  sort  of 
stories  that  begin  with  (for  you  seem  to  know 
something  of  it  yourself,  sir)  '  Your  grandfather, 
my  dear  John,  the  year  that  he  was  twenty,  got 
himself  into  serious  embarrassments  through  pay 
ing  his  attentions  to  two  reigning  beauties  at 
once.'  She  was  full  of  stories  which  began  in 
that  sort  of  pleasant  way." 

I  said :  "  When  a  person  like  that  dies,  an 
impoverishment  falls  upon  us ;  the  texture  of  life 
seems  thinner." 

"  Oh,  yes,  indeed !  I  know  what  you  mean  —  to 
lose  the  people  one  has  always  seen  from  the 
cradle.  Well,  she  has  gone  away,  she  has  taken 
her  memories  out  of  the  world,  the  old  times,  the 


82  LADY   BALTIMORE 

old  stories.  Nobody,  except  a  little  nutshell  of 
people  here,  knows  or  cares  anything  about  her 
any  more ;  and  soon  even  the  nutshell  will  be 
empty."  He  paused,  and  then,  as  if  brushing 
aside  his  churchyard  mood,  he  translated  into  his 
changed  thought  another  classic  quotation :  "  But 
we  can't  dawdle  over  the  '  tears  of  things ' ;  it's 
Nature's  law.  Only,  when  I  think  of  the  rice- 
banks  and  the  boots  and  the  pistol,  I  wonder  if 
the  Newport  ladies,  for  all  their  high-balls,  could 
do  any  better !  " 

The  crimson  had  faded,  the  twilight  was  alto- 

f ether  come,  but  the  little  noiseless  breeze  was 
lowing  still ;  and  as  we  left  the  quiet  tombs  be 
hind  us,  and  gained  Worship  Street,  I  could  not 
help  looking  back  where  slept  that  older  Kings 
Port  about  which  I  had  heard  and  had  said  so 
much.  Over  the  graves  I  saw  the  roses,  nodding 
and  moving,  as  if  in  acquiescent  revery. 


VII 

THE    GIRL    BEHIND    THE    COUNTER II 

WHICH  of  them  is  idealizing?"  This  was 
the  question  that  I  asked  myself,  next  morn 
ing,  in  my  boarding-house,  as  I  dressed  for  break 
fast  ;  the  next  morning  is  —  at  least  I  have  always 
found  it  so  —  an  excellent  time  for  searching  ques 
tions  ;  and  to-day  I  had  waked  up  no  longer  be 
neath  the  strong,  gentle  spell  of  the  churchyard. 
A  bright  sun  was  shining  over  the  eastern  waters 
of  the  town,  I  could  see  from  my  upper  veranda 
the  thousand  flashes  of  the  waves ;  the  steam  yacht 
rode  placidly  and  competently  among  them,  while 
a  coastwise  steamer  was  sailing  by  her,  out  to  sea, 
to  Savannah,  or  New  York;  the  general  world 
was  going  on,  and  —  which  of  them  was  idealiz 
ing?  It  mightn't  be  so  bad,  after  all.  Hadn't  I, 
perhaps,  over-sentimentalized  to  myself  the  case 
of  John  Mayrant?  Hadn't  I  imagined  for  him 
ever  so  much  more  anxiety  than  the  boy  actually 
felt  ?  For  people  can  idealize  down  just  as  readily 
as  they  can  idealize  up.  Of  Miss  Hortense  Rieppe 
I  had  now  two  partial  portraits  —  one  by  the  dis 
pleased  aunts,  the  other  by  their  chivalric  nephew ; 
in  both  she  held  between  her  experienced  lips, 
a  cigarette ;  there  the  similarity  ceased.  And 
then,  there  was  the  toboggan  fire-escape.  Well,  I 
must  meet  the  living  original  before  I  could  de- 

83 


84  LADY   BALTIMORE 

cide  whether  (for  me,  at  any  rate)  she  was  the 
"  brute  "  as  seen  by  the  eyes  of  Mrs.  Gregory  St. 
Michael,  or  the  "  really  nice  girl "  who  was  going 
to  marry  John  Mayrant  on  Wednesday  wTeek. 
Just  at  this  point  my  thoughts  brought  up  hard 
again  at  the  cake.  No ;  I  couldn't  swallow  that 
any  better  this  morning  than  yesterday  afternoon  ! 
Allow  the  gentleman  to  pay  for  the  feast !  Better 
to  have  omitted  all  feast ;  nothing  simpler,  and  it 
would  have  been  at  least  dignified,  even  if  arid. 
But  then,  there  was  the  lady  (a  cousin  or  an  aunt 
—  I  couldn't  remember  which  this  morning)  who 
had  told  me  she  wasn't  solicitous.  What  did  she 
mean  by  that  ?  And  she  had  looked  quite  queer 
when  she  spoke  about  the  phosphates.  Oh,  yes, 
to  be  sure,  she  was  his  intimate  aunt !  Where, 
by  the  way,  was  Miss  Rieppe  ? 

By  the  time  I  had  eaten  my  breakfast  and 
walked  up  Worship  Street  to  the  post-office  I 
was  full  of  it  all  again ;  my  searching  thoughts 
hadn't  simplified  a  single  point.  I  always  called 
for  my  mail  at  the  post-office,  because  I  got  it 
sooner ;  it  didn't  come  to  the  boarding-house  be 
fore  I  had  departed  on  my  quest  for  royal  blood, 
whereas,  this  way,  I  simply  got  my  letters  at  the 
corner  of  Court  and  Worship  streets  and  walked 
diagonally  across  and  down  Court  a  few  steps  to 
my  researches,  which  I  could  vary  and  alleviate 
by  reading  and  answering  news  from  home. 

It  was  from  Aunt  Carola  that  I  heard  to-day. 
Only  a  little  of  what  she  said  will  interest  you. 
There  had  been  a  delightful  meeting  of  the  Selected 
Salic  Scions.  The  Baltimore  Chapter  had  paid  her 
Chapter  a  visit.  Three  ladies  and  one  very  highly 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — II       85 

connected  young  gentleman  had  come — an  encour 
agingly  full  and  enthusiastic  meeting.  They  had 
lunched  upon  cocoa,  sherry,  and  croquettes ;  after 
which  all  had  been  more  than  glad  to  listen  to  a 
paper  read  by  a  descendant  of  Edward  the  Third ; 
and  the  young  gentleman,  a  descendant  of  Cather 
ine  of  Aragon,  had  recited  a  beautiful  original 
poem,  entitled  "  My  Queen  Grandmother."  Aunt 
Carola  regretted  that  I  could  not  have  had  the 
pleasure  and  the  benefit  of  this  meeting;  the 
young  gentleman  had  turned  out  to  be,  also,  a 
refined  and  tasteful  musician,  playing  upon  the 
piano  a  favorite  gavotte  of  Louis  the  Thirteenth. 
"  And  while  you  are  in  Kings  Port,"  my  aunt  said, 
"  I  expect  you  to  profit  by  associating  with  the 
survivors  of  our  good  American  society  —  people 
such  as  one  could  once  meet  everywhere  when  I 
was  young,  but  who  have  been  destroyed  by  the 
invasion  of  the  proletariat.  You  are  in  the  last 
citadel  of  good-breeding.  By  the  way,  find  out, 
if  you  can,  if  any  of  the  Bombo  connection  are 
extant ;  as  through  them  I  should  like,  if  possible, 
to  establish  a  chapter  of  the  Scions  in  South  Caro 
lina.  Have  you  met  a  Miss  Rieppe,  a  decidedly 
striking  young  woman,  who  says  she  is  from  Kings 
Port,  and  who  recently  passed  through  here  with 
a  very  common  man  dancing  attendance  on  her  ? 
He  owns  the  Hermana,  and  she  is  said  to  be 
engaged  to  him." 

This  wasn't  as  good  as  meeting  Miss  Rieppe  my 
self  ;  but  the  new  angle  at  which  I  got  her  from 
my  Aunt  was  distinctly  a  contribution  toward 
the  young  woman's  likeness ;  I  felt  that  I  should 
know  her  at  sight,  if  ever  she  came  within  seeing 


86 


LADY   BALTIMORE 


Between  the  silent  walls  of  commerce  desolated 

distance.     And  it  would  be  entertaining  to  find 
that  she  was  a  Bombo ;  but  that  could  wait ;  what 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — II       87 

couldn't  wait  was  the  Hermana.  I  postponed  the 
Fannings,  hurried  by  the  door  where  they  waited  for 
me,  and,  coming  to  the  end  of  Court  Street,  turned 
to  the  right  and  sought  among  the  wharves  the  near 
est  vista  that  could  give  me  a  view  of  the  harbor. 
Between  the  silent  walls  of  commerce  desolated, 
and  by  the  empty  windows  from  which  Prosperity 
once  looked  out,  I  threaded  my  way  to  a  point 
upon  the  town's  eastern  edge.  Yes,  that  was  the 
steam  yacht's  name  :  the  Hermana.  I  didn't  make 
it  out  myself,  she  lay  a  trifle  too  far  from  shore ; 
but  I  could  read  from  a  little  fluttering  pennarft 
that  her  owner  was  not  on  board ;  and  from  the 
second  loafer  whom  I  questioned  I  learned,  besides 
her  name,  that  she  had  come  from  New  York  here 
to  meet  her  owner,  whose  name  he  did  not  know 
and  whose  arrival  was  still  indefinite.  This  was 
not  very  much  to  find  out;  but  it  was  so  much 
more  than  I  had  found  out  about  the  Fannings 
that,  although  I  now  faithfully  returned  to  my  re 
searches,  and  sat  over  open  books  until  noon,  I 
couldn't  tell  you  a  word  of  what  I  read.  Where 
was  Miss  Rieppe,  and  where  was  the  owner  of 
the  Hermana  ?  Also,  precisely  how  ill  was  the 
hero  of  Chattanooga,  her  poor  dear  father  ? 

At  the  Exchange  I  opened  the  door  upon  a 
conversation  which,  in  consequence,  broke  off 
abruptly;  but  this  much  I  came  in  for:  — 

"  Nothing  but  the  slightest  bruise  above  his  eye. 
The  other  one  is  in  bed." 

It  was  the  severe  lady  who  said  this ;  I  mean 
that  lady  who,  among  all  the  severe  ones  I  had 
met,  seemed  capable  of  the  highest  exercise  of  this 
quality,  although  she  had  not  exercised  it  in  my 


88  LADY   BALTIMORE 

presence.  She  looked,  in  her  veil  and  her  black 
street  dress,  as  aloof,  and  as  coldly  scornful  of  the 
present  day,  as  she  had  seemed  when  sitting  over 
her  embroidery;  but  it  was  not  of  1812,  or  even 
1840,  that  she  had  been  talking  just  now:  it  was 
this  morning  that  somebody  was  bruised,  some 
body  was  in  bed. 

The  handsome  lady  acknowledged  my  saluta 
tion  completely,  but  not  encouragingly,  and  then, 
on  the  threshold,  exchanged  these  parting  sen 
tences  with  the  girl  behind  the  counter :  — 
*  "  They  will  have  to  shake  hands.  He  was  not 
very  willing,  but  he  listened  to  me.  Of  course, 
the  chastisement  was  right  —  but  it  does  not 
affect  my  opinion  of  his  keeping  on  with  the 
position." 

"  No,  indeed,  Aunt  Josephine !  "  the  girl  agreed. 
"  I  wish  he  wouldn't.  Did  you  say  it  was  his  right 
eye  ? " 

"  His  left."  Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael  inclined 
her  head  once  more  to  me  and  went  out  of  the 
Exchange.  I  retired  to  my  usual  table,  and  the 
girl  read  in  my  manner,  quite  correctly,  the  feel 
ings  which  I  had  not  supposed  I  had  allowed  to 
be  evident.  She  said  :  — 

"  Aunt  Josephine  always  makes  strangers  think 
she's  displeased  with  them." 

I  replied  like  the  young  ass  which  I  constantly 
tell  myself  I  have  ceased  to  be :  "  Oh,  displeasure 
is  as  much  notice  as  one  is  entitled  to  from  Miss 
St.  Michael." 

The  girl  laughed  with  her  delightful  sweet 
mockery. 

"  I  declare,  you're  huffed  !     Now  don't  tell  me 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — II        89 

you're  not.  But  you  mustn't  be.  When  you 
know  her,  you'll  know  that  that  awful  manner 
means  Aunt  Josephine  is  just  being  shy.  Why, 
even  Pm  not  afraid  of  her  George  Washington 
glances  any  more  !  " 

"  Very  well,"  I  laughed,  "  I'll  try  to  have  your 
courage."  Over  my  chocolate  and  sandwiches  I 
sat  in  curiosity  discreditable,  but  natural.  Who 
was  in  bed  —  who  would  have  to  shake  hands  ? 
And  why  had  they  stopped  talking  when  I  came 
in  ?  Of  course,  I  found  myself  hoping  that  John 
Mayrant  had  put  the  owner  of  the  Hermana  in 
bed  at  the  slight  cost  of  a  bruise  above  his  left 
eye.  I  wondered  if  the  cake  was  again  counter 
manded,  and  I  started  upon  that  line.  "  I  think 
I'll  have  to-day,  if  you  please,  another  slice  of  that 
Lady  Baltimore."  And  I  made  ready  for  another 
verbal  skirmish. 

"I'm  so  sorry!  It's  a  little  stale  to-day.  You 
can  have  the  last  slice,  if  you  wish." 

"Thank  you,  I  will."  She  brought  it.  "It's 
not  so  very  stale,"  I  said.  "  How  long  since  it 
has  been  made  ?  " 

"  Oh,  it's  the  same  you've  been  having.  You're 
its  only  patron  just  now." 

"  Well,  no.     There's  Mr.  Mayrant." 

"  Not  for  a  week  yet,  you  remember." 

So  the  wedding  was  on  yet.  Still,  John  might 
have  smashed  the  owner  of  the  Hermana. 

"  Have  you  seen  him  lately? "  I  asked. 

There  was  something  special  in  the  way  she 
looked.  "  Not  to-day.  Have  you  ?  " 

"  Never  in  the  forenoon.  He  has  his  duties 
and  I  have  mine." 


90  LADY   BALTIMORE 

She  made  a  little  pause,  and  then,  "  What  do 
you  think  of  the  President  ? " 

"  The  President  ?  "     I  was  at  a  loss. 

"  But  I'm  afraid  you  would  take  his  view  —  the 
Northern  view,"  she  mused. 

It  gave  me,  suddenly,  her  meaning.  "  Oh,  the 
President  of  the  United  States !  How  you  do 
change  the  subject !  " 

Her  eyes  were  upon  me,  burning  with  sectional 
indignation,  but  she  seemed  to  be  thinking  too 
much  to  speak.  Now,  here  was  a  topic  that  I  had 
avoided,  and  she  had  plumped  it  at  me.  Very 
well ;  she  should  have  my  view. 

"  If  you  mean  that  a  gentleman  cannot  invite 
any  respectable  member  of  any  race  he  pleases  to 
dine  privately  in  his  house  —  " 

"  His  house  ! "  She  was  glowing  now  with  it. 
"I  think  he  is — I  think  he  is  —  to  have  one  of 
them  —  and  even  if  he  likes  it,  not  to  remember  — 
I  cannot  speak  about  him !  "  she  wound  up ;  "I 
should  say  unbecoming  things."  She  had  walked 
out,  during  these  words,  from  behind  the  counter, 
and  as  she  stood  there  in  the  middle  of  the  long 
room  you  might  have  thought  she  was  about  to 
lead  a  cavalry  charge.  Then,  admirably,  she  put 
it  all  under,  and  spoke  on  with  perfect  self-control. 
"  Why  can't  somebody  explain  it  to  him  ?  If  I 
knew  him,  I  would  go  to  him  myself,  and  I  would 
say,  '  Mr.  President,  we  need  not  discuss  our  dif 
ferent  tastes  as  to  dinner  company.  Nor  need  we 
discuss  how  much  you  benefit  the  colored  race  by 
an  act  which  makes  every  member  of  it  immedi 
ately  think  that  he  is  fit  to  dine  with  any  king  in 
the  world.  But  you  are  staying  in  a  house  which 


THE   GIRL  BEHIND  THE   COUNTER  — II       91 

is  partly  our  house,  ours,  the  South's,  for  we,  too, 
pay  taxes,  you  know.  And  since  you  also  know 
our  deep  feeling  —  you  may  even  call  it  a  preju 
dice,  if  it  so  pleases  you  —  do  you  not  think  that,  so 
long  as  you  are  residing  in  that  house,  you  should 
not  gratuitously  shock  our  deep  feeling  ? ' :  She 
swept  a  magnificent  low  curtsy  at  the  air. 

"  By  Jove,  Miss  La  Heu  !  "  I  exclaimed,  "  you 
put  it  so  that  it's  rather  hard  to  answer." 

"  I'm  glad  it  strikes  you  so." 

"  But  did  it  make  them  all  think  they  were 
going  to  dine  ?  " 

"  Hundreds  of  thousands.  It  was  proof  to  them 
that  they  were  as  good  as  anybody  —  just  as  good, 
without  reading  or  writing  or  anything.  The 
very  next  day  some  of  the  laziest  and  dirtiest 
where  we  live  had  a  new  strut,  like  the  monkey 
when  you  put  a  red  flannel  cap  on  him  —  only  the 
monkey  doesn't  push  ladies  off  the  sidewalk. 
And  that  state  of  mind,  you  know,"  said  Miss  La 
Heu,  softening  down  from  wrath  to  her  roguish 
laugh,  "isn't  the  right  state  of  mind  for  racial 
progress !  But  I  wasn't  thinking  of  this.  You 
know  he  has  appointed  one  of  them  to  office 
here." 

A  light  entered  my  brain :  John  Mayrant  had  a 
position  at  the  Custom  House  !  John  Mayrant 
was  subordinate  to  the  President's  appointee!  She 
hadn't  changed  the  subject  so  violently,  after  all. 

I  came  squarely  at  it.  "  And  so  you  wish  him 
to  resign  his  position  ?  " 

But  I  was  ahead  of  her  this  time. 

"  The  Chief  of  Customs  ? "  she  wonderingly 
murmured. 


92  LADY   BALTIMORE 

I  brought  her  up  with  me  now.  "  Did  Miss 
Josephine  St.  Michael  say  it  was  over  his  left 
eye  ? " 

The  girl  instantly  looked  everything  she 
thought.  "  I  believe  you  were  present ! "  This 
was  her  highly  comprehensive  exclamation,  accom 
panied  also  by  a  blush  as  splendidly  young  as 
John  Mayrant's  had  been  while  he  so  stammer- 
ingly  brought  out  his  wishes  concerning  the  cake. 
I  at  once  decided  to  deceive  her  utterly,  and 
therefore  I  spoke  the  exact  truth :  "  No,  I  wasn't 
present." 

They  did  their  work,  my  true  words ;  the  false 
impression  flowed  out  of  them  as  smoothly  as 
California  claret  from  a  French  bottle. 

"  I  wonder  who  told  you  ?  "  my  victim  remarked. 
"  But  it  doesn't  really  matter.  Everybody  is 
bound  to  know  it.  You  surely  were  the  last 
person  with  him  in  the  churchyard  ?  " 

"  Gracious  !  "  I  admitted  again  with  splendidly 
mendacious  veracity.  "  How  we  do  find  each 
other  out  in  Kings  Port !  " 

It  was  not  by  any  means  the  least  of  the  de 
lights  which  I  took  in  the  company  of  this  charm 
ing  girl  that  sometimes  she  was  too  much  for  me, 
and  sometimes  I  was  too  much  for  her.  It  was, 
of  course,  just  the  accident  of  our  ages;  in  a  very 
few  years  she  would  catch  up,  would  pass,  would 
always  be  too  much  for  me.  Well,  to-day  it  was 
happily  my  turn ;  I  wasn't  going  to  finish  lunch 
without  knowing  all  she,  at  any  rate,  could  tell  me 
about  the  left  eye  and  the  man  in  bed. 

"  Forty  years  ago,"  I  now,  with  ingenuity,  re 
marked,  "  I  suppose  it  would  have  been  pistols." 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — II       93 

She  assented.  "  And  I  like  that  better  —  don't 
you  —  for  gentlemen  ?  " 

"  Well,  you  mean  that  fists  are  —  " 

"  Yes,"  she  finished  for  me. 

"All  the  same,"  I  maintained,  "don't  you  think 
that  there  ought  to  be  some  correspondence,  some 
proportion,  between  the  gravity  of  the  cause  and 
the  gravity  of  —  " 

"  Let  the  coal-heavers  take  to  their  fists !  "  she 
scornfully  cried.  "  People  of  our  class  can't  de 
scend— " 

"  Well,  but,"  I  interrupted,  "  then  you  give  the 
coal-heavers  the  palm  for  discrimination." 

"How's  that?" 

"  Why,  perfectly !  Your  coal-heaver  kills  for 
some  offences,  while  for  lighter  ones  he  —  gets  a 
bruise  over  the  left  eye." 

"  You  don't  meet  it,  you  don't  meet  it !  What 
is  an  insult  ever  but  an  insult  ?  " 

"  Oh,  we  in  the  North  notice  certain  degrees  — 
insolence,  impudence,  impertinence,  liberties,  rude 
ness  —  all  different." 

She  took  up  my  phrase  with  a  sudden  odd 
quietness.  "You  in  the  North." 

"  Why,  yes.  We  have,  alas !  to  expect  and 
allow  for  rudeness  sometimes,  even  in  our  chosen 
few,  and  for  liberties  in  their  chosen  few ;  it's  only 
the  hotel  clerk  and  the  head  waiter  from  whom  we 
usually  get  impudence ;  while  insolence  is  the 
chronic  condition  of  the  Wall  Street  rich." 

"  You  in  the  North  !  "  she  repeated.  "  And  so 
your  Northern  eyes  can't  see  it,  after  all ! "  At 
these  words  my  intelligence  sailed  into  a  great 
blank,  while  she  continued :  "  Frankly  —  and  for- 


94  LADY  BALTIMORE 

give  me  for  saying  it  —  I  was  hoping  that  you 
were  one  Northerner  who  would  see  it." 

"  But  see  what  ?  "  I  barked  in  my  despair. 

She  did  not  help  me.  "  If  I  had  been  a  man, 
nothing  could  have  insulted  me  more  than  that. 
And  that's  what  you  don't  see,"  she  regretfully 
finished.  "  It  seems  so  strange." 

I  sat  in  the  midst  of  my  great  blank,  while  her 
handsome  eyes  rested  upon  me.  In  them  was 
that  look  of  a  certain  inquiry  and  a  certain  re 
moteness  with  which  one  pauses,  in  a  museum, 
before  some  specimen  of  the  cave-dwelling  man. 

"  You  comprehend  so  much,"  she  meditated 
slowly,  aloud ;  "  you've  been  such  an  agreeable 
disappointment,  because  your  point  of  view  is  so 
often  the  same  as  ours."  She  was  still  surveying 
me  with  the  specimen  expression,  when  it  suddenly 
left  her.  "  Do  you  mean  to  sit  there  and  tell  me," 
she  broke  out,  "  that  you  wouldn't  have  resented 
it  yourself  ? " 

"  O  dear ! "  my  mind  lamentably  said  to  itself, 
inside.  Of  what  may  have  been  the  exterior  that 
I  presented  to  her,  sitting  over  my  slice  of  Lady 
Baltimore,  I  can  form  no  impression. 

"  Put  yourself  in  his  place,"  the  girl  continued. 

"  Ah,"  I  gasped,  "  that  is  always  so  easy  to  say 
and  so  hard  to  do." 

My  remark  proved  not  a  happy  one.  She  made 
a  brief,  cold  pause  over  it,  and  then,  as  she  wheeled 
round  from  me,  back  to  the  counter:  "  No  South 
erner  would  let  pass  such  an  affront." 

It  was  final.  She  regained  her  usual  place,  she 
resumed  her  ledger;  the  curly  dog,  who  had  come 
out  to  hear  our  conversation,  went  in  again ;  I  was 


She  was  still  surveying  me  with  the  specimen  expression  " 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — II       97 

disgraced.  Not  only  with  the  profile  of  her  short, 
belligerent  nose,  but  with  the  chilly  way  in  which 
she  made  her  pencil  move  over  the  ledger,  she 
told  me  plainly  that  my  self-respect  had  failed  to 
meet  her  tests.  This  was  what  my  remarkable 
ingenuity  had  achieved  for  me.  I  swallowed  the 
last  crumbs  of  Lady  Baltimore,  and  went  forward 
to  settle  the  account. 

"  I  suppose  I'm  scarcely  entitled  to  ask  for  a 
fresh  one  to-morrow,"  I  ventured.  "  I  am  so  fond 
of  this  cake." 

Her  officialness  met  me  adequately.  "  Certainly. 
The  public  is  entitled  to  whatever  we  print  upon 
our  bill-of-fare." 

Now  this  was  going  to  be  too  bad !  Hence 
forth  I  was  to  rank  merely  as  "the  public,"  no 
matter  how  much  Lady  Baltimore  I  should  lunch 
upon !  A  happy  thought  seized  me,  and  I  spoke 
out  instantly  on  the  strength  of  it. 

"  Miss  La  Heu,  I've  a  confession  to  make." 

But  upon  this  beginning  of  mine  the  inauspi 
cious  door  opened  and  young  John  Mayrant  came 
in.  It  was  all  right  about  his  left  eye ;  anybody 
could  see  that  bruise  ! 

"  Oh ! "  he  exclaimed,  hearty,  but  somewhat 
disconcerted.  "  To  think  of  finding  you  here ! 
You're  going?  But  I'll  see  you  later?  " 

"  I  hope  so,"  I  said.  "  You  know  where  I 
work." 

"Yes  —  yes.  I'll  come.  We've  all  sorts  of 
things  more  to  say,  haven't  we  ?  We  —  good-by  !  " 

Did  I  hear,  as  I  gained  the  street,  something 
being  said  about  the  General,  and  the  state  of  his 
health  ? 


VIII 

"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S  DREAM" 

YOU  may  imagine  in  what  state  of  wondering 
I  went  out  of  that  place,  and  how  little  I 
could  now  do  away  with  my  curiosity.  By  the 
droll  looks  and  head-turnings  which  followed  me 
from  strangers  that  passed  me  by  in  the  street,  I 
was  made  aware  that  I  must  be  talking  aloud  to 
myself,  and  the  words  which  I  had  evidently 
uttered  were  these :  "  But  who  in  the  world 
can  he  have  smashed  up  ?  " 

Of  course,  beneath  the  public  stare  and  smile  I 
kept  the  rest  of  my  thoughts  to  myself ;  yet  they 
so  possessed  and  took  me  from  my  surroundings, 
that  presently,  while  crossing  Royal  Street,  I  was 
nearly  run  down  by  an  electric  car.  Nor  did  even 
this  serve  to  disperse  my  preoccupation ;  my  walk 
back  to  Court  and  Chancel  streets  is  as  if  it  had 
not  been ;  I  can  remember  nothing  about  it,  and 
the  first  account  that  I  took  of  external  objects 
was  to  find  myself  sitting  in  my  accustomed  chair 
in  the  Library,  with  the  accustomed  row  of  books 
about  the  battle  of  Cowpens  waiting  on  the  table 
in  front  of  me.  How  long  we  had  thus  been  fac 
ing  each  other,  the  books  and  I,  I've  not  a  notion. 
And  with  such  mysterious  machinery  are  we 
human  beings  filled  —  machinery  that  is  in 
motion  all  the  while,  whether  we  are  aware  of 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S  DREAM"  99 

it  or  not  —  that  now,  with  some  part  of  my 
mind,  and  with  my  pencil  assisting,  I  composed 
several  stanzas  to  my  kingly  ancestor,  the  goal  of 
my  fruitless  search;  and  yet  during  the  whole 
process  of  my  metrical  exercise  I  was  really 
thinking  and  wondering  about  John  Mayrant, 
his  battles  and  his  loves. 

ODE  ON  INTIMATIONS  OF  ROYALTY 

I  sing  to  thee,  thou  Great  Unknown, 
Who  dost  connect  me  with  a  throne 
Through  uncle,  cousin,  aunt,  or  sister, 
But  not,  I  trust,  through  bar  sinister. 

Chorus  : 
Gules  !  Gules  !  and  a  cuckoo  peccant ! 

Such  was  the  frivolous  opening  of  my  poem, 
which,  as  it  progressed,  grew  even  less  edifying ; 
I  have  quoted  this  fragment  merely  to  show  you 
how  little  reverence  for  the  Selected  Salic  Scions 
was  by  this  time  left  in  my  spirit,  and  not  because 
the  verses  themselves  are  in  the  least  meritorious ; 
they  should  serve  as  a  model  for  no  serious-minded 
singer,  and  they  afford  a  striking  instance  of  that 
volatile  mood,  not  to  say  that  inclination  to  rib 
aldry,  which  will  at  seasons  crop  out  in  me,  do 
what  I  will.  It  is  my  hope  that  age  may  help  me 
to  subdue  this,  although  I  have  observed  it  in 
some  very  old  men. 

I  did  not  send  my  poem  to  Aunt  Carola,  but 
I  wrote  her  a  letter,  even  there  and  then,  couched 
in  terms  which  I  believe  were  altogether  respect 
ful.  I  deplored  my  lack  of  success  in  discovering 
the  link  that  was  missing  between  me  and  king's 


ioo  LADY   BALTIMORE 

blood ;  I  intimated  my  conviction  that  further 
effort  on  my  part  would  still  be  met  with  failure ; 
and  I  renounced  with  fitting  expressions  of  dis 
appointment  my  candidateship  for  the  Scions, 
thanking  Aunt  Carola  for  her  generosity,  by  which 
I  must  now  no  longer  profit.  I  added  that  I 
should  remain  in  Kings  Port  for  the  present,  as  I 
was  finding  the  climate  of  decided  benefit  to  my 
health,  and  the  courtesy  of  the  people  an  educa 
tion  in  itself. 

Whatever  pain  at  missing  the  glory  of  becom 
ing  a  Scion  may  have  lingered  with  me  after  this 
was  much  assuaged  in  a  few  days  by  my  reading 
an  article  in  a  New  York  paper,  which  gave  an 
account  of  a  meeting  of  my  Aunt's  Society,  held 
in  that  city.  My  attention  was  attracted  to  this 
article  by  the  prominent  heading  given  to  it : 
THEY  WORE  THEIR  CROWNS.  This, 
in  very  conspicuous  Roman  capitals,  caused  me 
to  sit  up.  There  must  have  been  truth  in  some 
of  it,  because  the  food  eaten  by  the  Scions  was 
mentioned  as  consisting  of  sandwiches,  sherry, 
and  croquettes ;  yet  I  think  that  the  statement 
that  the  members  present  addressed  each  other 
according  to  the  royal  families  from  which  they 
severally  traced  descent,  as,  for  example,  Brother 
Guelph  and  Sister  Plantagenet,  can  scarce  have 
been  aught  but  an  exaggeration ;  nevertheless, 
the  article  brought  me  undeniable  consolation  for 
my  disappointment. 

After  finishing  my  letter  to  Aunt  Carola  I 
should  have  hastened  out  to  post  it  and  escape 
from  Cowpens,  had  I  not  remembered  that  John 
Mayrant  had  more  or  less  promised  to  meet  me 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM" 

here.  Now,  there  was  but  a  slender  chance  that 
the  boy  would  speak  to  me  on  the  subject  of  his 
late  encounter;  this  I  must  learn  from  other 
sources  ;  but  he  might  speak  to  me  about  some 
thing  that  would  open  a  way  for  my  hostile  prepa 
rations  against  Miss  Rieppe.  So  far  he  had  not 
touched  upon  his  impending  marriage  in  any 
way,  but  this  reserve  concerning  a  fact  generally 
known  among  the  people  whom  I  was  seeing 
could  hardly  go  on  long  without  becoming  ridicu 
lous.  If  he  should  shun  mention  of  it  to-day,  I 
would  take  this  as  a  plain  sign  that  he  did  not 
look  forward  to  it  with  the  enthusiasm  which  a 
lover  ought  to  feel  for  his  approaching  bliss ;  and 
on  such  silence  from  him  I  would  begin,  if  I 
could,  to  undermine  his  intention  of  keeping 
an  engagement  of  the  heart  when  the  heart  no 
longer  entered  into  it. 

While  my  thoughts  continued  to  be  busied 
over  this  lover  and  his  concerns,  I  noticed  the 
works  of  William  Shakespeare  close  beside  me 
upon  a  shelf;  and  although  it  was  with  no  special 
purpose  in  mind  that  I  took  out  one  of  the  vol 
umes  and  sat  down  with  it  to  Wait  for  John 
Mayrant,  in  a  little  while  an  inspiration  came  to 
me  from  its  pages,  so  that  I  was  more  anxious 
than  ever  the  boy  should  not  fail  to  meet  me  here 
in  the  Library. 

Was  it  the  bruise  on  his  forehead  that  had  per 
turbed  his  manner  just  now  when  he  entered  the 
Exchange?  No,  this  was  not  likely  to  be  the 
reason,  since  he  had  been  full  as  much  embarrassed 
that  first  day  of  my  seeing  him  there,  when  he 
had  given  his  order  for  Lady  Baltimore  so  lamely 


T.02  LADY  BALTIMORE 

that  the  girl  behind  the  counter  had  come  to  his 
aid.  And  what  could  it  have  been  that  he  had 
begun  to  tell  her  to-day  as  I  was  leaving  the 
place  ?  Was  the  making  of  that  cake  again  to  be 
postponed  on  account  of  the  General's  precarious 
health  ?  And  what  had  been  the  nature  of  the 
insult  which  young  John  Mayrant  had  punished 
and  was  now  commanded  to  shake  hands  over? 
Could  it  in  truth  be  the  owner  of  the  Hermana 
whom  he  had  thrashed  so  well  as  to  lay  him  up  in 
bed  ?  That  incident  had  damaged  two  people  at 
least,  the  unknown  vanquished  combatant  in  his 
bodily  welfare,  and  me  in  my  character  as  an  up 
standing  man  in  the  fierce  feminine  estimation  of 
Miss  La  Heu ;  but  this  injury  it  was  my  inten 
tion  to  set  right ;  my  confession  to  the  girl  behind 
the  counter  was  merely  delayed.  As  I  sat  with 
Shakespeare  open  in  my  lap,  I  added  to  my  store 
of  reasoning  one  little  new  straw  of  argument  in 
favor  of  my  opinion  that  John  Mayrant  was  no 
longer  at  ease  or  happy  about  his  love  affair.  I 
had  never  before  met  any  young  man  in  whose 
manner  nature  was  so  finely  tempered  with  good 
bringing-up;  forwardness  and  shyness  were  alike 
absent  from  him,  and  his  bearing  had  a  sort  of 
polished  unconsciousness  as  far  removed  from  raw 
diffidence  as  it  was  from  raw  conceit ;  it  was  alto 
gether  a  rare  and  charming  address  in  a  youth  of 
such  true  youthfulness,  but  it  had  failed  him  upon 
two  occasions  which  I  have  already  mentioned. 
Both  times  that  he  had  come  to  the  Exchange  he 
had  stumbled  in  his  usually  prompt  speech,  lost 
his  habitual  ease,  and  betrayed,  in  short,  all  the 
signs  of  being  disconcerted.  The  matter  seemed 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  103 

suddenly  quite  plain  to  me :  it  was  the  nature  of 
his  errands  to  the  Exchange.  The  first  time  he 
had  been  ordering  the  cake  for  his  own  wedding, 
and  to-day  it  was  something  about  the  wedding 
again.  Evidently  the  high  mettle  of  his  delicacy 
and  breeding  made  him  painfully  conscious  of  the 
view  which  others  must  take  of  the  part  that  Miss 
Rieppe  was  playing  in  all  this  —  a  view  from 
which  it  was  out  of  his  power  to  shield  her ;  and 
it  was  this  consciousness  that  destroyed  his  com 
posure.  From  what  I  was  soon  to  learn  of  his 
fine  and  unmoved  disregard  for  unfavorable 
opinion  when  he  felt  his  course  to  be  the  right 
one,  I  know  that  it  was  no  thought  at  all  of  his 
own  scarcely  heroic  role  during  these  days,  but 
only  the  perception  that  outsiders  must  detect  in 
his  affianced  lady  some  of  those  very  same 
qualities  which  had  chilled  his  too  precipitate 
passion  for  her,  and  left  him  alone,  without  ro 
mance,  without  family  sympathy,  without  social 
acclamations,  with  nothing  indeed  save  his  high- 
strung  notion  of  honor  to  help  him  bravely  face 
the  wedding  march.  How  appalling  must  the 
wedding  march  sound  to  a  waiting  bridegroom 
who  sees  the  bride,  that  he  no  longer  looks  at 
except  with  distaste  and  estrangement,  coming 
nearer  and  nearer  to  him  up  the  aisle  !  A  funeral 
march  would  be  gayer  than  that  music,  I  should 
think!  The  thought  came  to  me  to  break  out 
bluntly  and  say  to  him :  "  Countermand  the  cake  ! 
She's  only  playing  with  you  while  that  yachtsman 
is  making  up  his  mind."  But  there  could  be  but 
one  outcome  of  such  advice  to  John  Mayrant : 
two  people,  instead  of  one,  would  be  in  bed  suffer- 


104  LADY   BALTIMORE 

ing  from  contusions.  As  I  mused  on  the  boy  and 
his  attractive  and  appealing  character,  I  became 
more  rejoiced  than  ever  that  he  had  thrashed 
somebody,  I  cared  not  very  much  who  nor  yet 
very  much  why,  so  long  as  such  thrashing  had 
been  thorough,  which  seemed  quite  evidently  and 
happily  the  case.  He  stood  now  in  my  eyes,  in 
some  way  that  is  too  obscure  for  me  to  be 
able  to  explain  to  you,  saved  from  some  reproach 
whose  subtlety  likewise  eludes  my  powers  of  an 
alysis. 

It  was  already  five  minutes  after  three  o'clock, 
my  dinner  hour,  when  he  at  length  appeared  in 
the  Library;  and  possibly  I  put  some  reproach 
into  my  greeting:  "Won't  you  walk  along  with 
me  to  Mrs.  Trevise's  ?  "  (That  was  my  boarding- 
house.) 

"  I  could  not  get  away  from  the  Custom  House 
sooner,"  he  explained ;  and  into  his  eyes  there 
came  for  a  moment  that  look  of  unrest  and  pre 
occupation  which  I  had  observed  at  times  while 
we  had  discussed  Newport  and  alcoholic  girls. 
The  two  subjects  seemed  certainly  far  enough 
apart !  But  he  immediately  began  upon  a  con 
versation  briskly  enough  —  so  briskly  that  I  sus 
pected  at  once  he  had  got  his  subject  ready  in 
advance ;  he  didn't  want  me  to  speak  first,  lest  I 
turn  the  talk  into  channels  embarrassing,  such  as 
bruised  foreheads  or  wedding  cake.  Well,  this 
should  not  prevent  me  from  dropping  in  his  cup  the 
wholesome  bitters  which  I  had  prepared. 

"  Well,  sir !  Well,  sir !  "  such  was  his  hearty 
preface.  "  I  wonder  if  you're  feeling  ashamed  of 
yourself  ?  " 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  105 

"  Never  when  I  read  Shakespeare,"  I  answered, 
restoring  the  volume  to  its  place. 

He  looked  at  the  title.     "  Which  one  ?  " 

"  One  of  the  unsuitable  love  affairs  that  was 
prevented  in  time." 

"  Romeo  and  Juliet  ?  " 

"No;  Bottom  and  Titania — and  Romeo  and 
Juliet  were  not  prevented  in  time.  They  had 
their  bliss  once  and  to  the  full,  and  died  before 
they  caused  each  other  anything  but  ecstasy.  No 
weariness  of  routine,  no  tears  of  disenchantment ; 
complete  love,  completely  realized  —  and  finis ! 
It's  the  happiest  ending  of  all  the  plays." 

He  looked  at  me  hard.  "Sometimes  I  believe 
you're  ironic  !  " 

I  smiled  at  him.  "  A  sign  of  the  highest  civil 
ization,  then.  But  please  to  think  of  Juliet  after 
ten  years  of  Romeo  and  his  pin-headed  intelligence 
and  his  preordained  infidelities.  Do  you  imagine 
that  her  predecessor,  Rosamond,  would  have  had 
no  successors  ?  Juliet  would  have  been  com 
pelled  to  divorce  Romeo,  if  only  for  the  children's 
sake." 

"  The  children  !  "  cried  John  Mayrant.  "  Why, 
it's  for  their  sake  deserted  women  abstain  from 
divorce !  " 

"Juliet  would  see  deeper  than  such  mothers. 
She  could  not  have  her  little  sons  and  daughters 
grow  up  and  comprehend  their  father's  absences, 
and  see  their  mother's  submission  to  his  returns ; 
for  such  discovery  would  scorch  the  marrow  of 
any  hearts  they  had." 

At  this,  as  we  came  out  of  the  Library,  he 
made  an  astonishing  rejoinder,  and  one  which  I 


io6  LADY  BALTIMORE 

cannot  in  the  least  account  for :  "  South  Carolina 
does  not  allow  divorce." 

"  Then  I  should  think,"  I  said  to  him,  "  that  all 
you  people  here  would  be  doubly  careful  as  to 
what  manner  of  husbands  and  wives  you  chose 
for  yourselves." 

Such  a  remark  was  sailing,  you  may  say,  almost 
within  three  points  of  the  wind ;  and  his  own  ac 
cidental  allusion  to  Romeo  had  brought  it  about 
with  an  aptness  and  a  celerity  which  were  better 
for  my  purpose  than  anything  I  had  privately 
developed  from  the  text  of  Bottom  and  Titania; 
none  the  less,  however,  did  I  intend  to  press  into 
my  service  that  fond  couple  also  as  basis  for  a 
moral,  in  spite  of  the  sharp  turn  which  those  last 
words  of  mine  now  caused  him  at  once  to  give  to 
our  conversation.  His  quick  reversion  to  the 
beginning  of  the  talk  seemed  like  a  dodging  of 
remarks  that  hit  too  near  home  for  him  to  relish 
hearing  pursued. 

"  Well,  sir,"  he  resumed  with  the  same  initial 
briskness,  "  I  was  ashamed  if  you  were  not." 

"  I  still  don't  make  out  what  impropriety  we 
have  jointly  committed." 

"  What  do  you  think  of  the  views  you  expressed 
about  our  country  ?  " 

"  Oh  !     When  we  sat  on  the  gravestones." 

"  What  do  you  think  about  it  to-day  ?  " 

I  turned  to  him  as  we  slowly  walked  toward 
Worship  Street.  "  Did  you  say  anything  then 
that  you  would  take  back  now  ?  " 

He  pondered,  wrinkling  his  forehead.  "  Well, 
but  all  the  same,  didn't  we  give  the  present  hour 
a  pretty  black  eye  ?  " 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  107 

"  The  present  hour  deserves  a  black  eye,  and 
two  of  them  !  " 

He  surveyed  me  squarely.  "  I  believe  you're  a 
pessimist !  " 

"  That  is  the  first  trashy  thing  I've  heard  you 
say." 

"  Thank  you  !  At  least  admit  you're  scarcely 
an  optimist." 

"  Optimist !  Pessimist !  Why,  you're  talking 
just  like  a  newspaper!  " 

He  laughed.  "  Oh,  don't  compare  a  gentleman 
to  a  newspaper." 

"  Then  keep  your  vocabulary  clean  of  bargain- 
counter  words.  A  while  ago  the  journalists  had 
a  furious  run  upon  the  adjective  '  un-American.' 
Anybody  or  anything  that  displeased  them  was 
'un-American/  They  ran  it  into  the  ground, 
and  in  its  place  they  have  lately  set  up  'pessi 
mist,'  which  certainly  has  a  threatening  appear 
ance.  They  don't  know  its  meaning,  and  in  their 
mouths  it  merely  signifies  that  what  a  man  says 
makes  them  feel  personally  uncomfortable.  The 
word  has  become  a  dusty  rag  of  slang.  The  ar 
rested  burglar  very  likely  calls  the  policeman  a 
pessimist ;  and,  speaking  reverently  and  with  no 
intention  to  shock  you,  the  scribes  and  Pharisees 
would  undoubtedly  have  called  Christ  a  pessimist 
when  He  called  them  hypocrites,  had  they  been 
acquainted  with  the  word." 

Once  more  my  remarks  drew  from  the  boy  an 
unexpected  rejoinder.  We  had  .turned  into  Wor 
ship  Street,  and,  as  we  passed  the  churchyard,  he 
stopped  and  laid  his  hand  upon  the  railing  of  the 
gate. 


io8  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  You  don't  shock  me,"  he  said ;  and  then : 
"  But  you  would  shock  my  aunts."  He  paused, 
gazing  into  the  churchyard,  before  he  continued 
more  slowly:  "And  so  should  I  —  if  they  knew 
it  —  shock  them." 

"  If  they  knew  what  ? "  I  asked. 

His  hand  indicated  a  sculptured  crucifix  near  by. 

"  Do  you  believe  everything  still  ? "  he  an 
swered.  "  Can  you  ?  " 

As  he  looked  at  me,  I  suppose  that  he  read 
negation  in  my  eyes. 

"  No  more  can  I,"  he  murmured.  Again  he 
looked  in  among  the'  tombstones  and  flowers, 
where  the  old  custodian  saw  us  and  took  off  his 
hat.  "  Howdy,  Daddy  Ben ! "  John  Mayrant 
returned  pleasantly,  and  then  resuming  to  me: 
"  No  more  can  I  believe  everything."  Then  he 
gave  a  brief,  comical  laugh.  "  And  I  hope  my 
aunts  won't  find  that  out !  They  would  think  me 
gone  to  perdition  indeed.  But  I  always  go  to 
church  here  "  (he  pointed  to  the  quiet  building, 
which,  for  all  its  modest  size  and  simplicity,  had 
a  stately  and  inexpressible  charm),  "  because  I  like 
to  kneel  where  my  mother  said  her  prayers,  you 
know."  He  flushed  a  little  over  this  confidence 
into  which  he  had  fallen,  but  he  continued :  "  I 
like  the  words  of  the  service,  too,  and  I  don't  ask 
myself  over-curiously  what  I  do  believe;  but 
there's  a  permanent  something  within  us  —  a 
Greater  Self  —  don't  you  think  ?  " 

"  A  permanent  something,"  I  assented,  "  which 
has  created  all  the  religions  all  over  the  earth 
from  the  beginning,  and  of  which  Christianity  it 
self  is  merely  one  of  the  present  temples." 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  109 

He  made  an  exclamation  at  my  word  "  present." 

"  Do    you     think    anything    in    this    world    is 
final  ?  "  I  asked  him. 

"  But  —  "  he  began,  somewhat  at  a  loss. 

"  Haven't  you  found  out  yet  that  human  nature 
is  the  one  indestructible  reality  that  we  know  ? " 

"  But  —  "  he  began  again. 

"  Don't  we  have  the  '  latest  thing '  all  the  time, 
and  never  the  ultimate  thing,  never,  never  ?  The 
latest  thing  in  women's  hats  is  that  huge-brimmed 
affair  with  the  veil  as  voluminous  as  a  double- 
bed  mosquito  netting.  That  hat  will  look  im 
probable  next  spring.  The  latest  thing  in  science 
is  radium.  Radium  has  exploded  the  conserva 
tion  of  energy  theory  —  turned  it  into  a  last  year's 
hat.  Answer  me,  if  Christianity  is  the  same  as 
when  it  wore  among  its  savage  ornaments  a  devil 
with  horns  and  a  flaming  Hell !  Forever  and 
forever  the  human  race  reaches  out  its  hand  and 
shapes  some  system,  some  creed,  some  govern 
ment,  and  declares :  '  This  is  at  length  the  final 
thing,  the  cure-all,'  and  lo  and  behold,  something 
flowing  and  eternal  in  the  race  itself  presently 
splits  the  creed  and  the  government  to  pieces ! 
Truth  is  a  very  marvellous  thing.  We  feel  it ; 
it  can  fill  our  eyes  with  tears,  our  hearts  with  joy, 
it  can  make  us  die  for  it ;  but  once  our  human 
lips  attempt  to  formulate  and  thus  imprison  it, 
it  becomes  a  lie.  You  cannot  shut  truth  up  in 
any  words." 

"  But  it  shall  prevail !  "  the  boy  exclaimed  with 
a  sort  of  passion. 

"  Everything  prevails,"  I  answered  him. 

"  I  don't  like  that,"  he  said. 


no  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  Neither  do  I,"  I  returned.  "  But  Jacob  got 
Esau's  inheritance  by  a  mean  trick." 

"  Jacob  was  punished  for  it." 

"  Did  that  help  Esau  much  ?  " 

"  You  are  a  pessimist !  " 

"  Just  because  I  see  Jacob  and  Esau  to-day, 
alive  and  kicking  in  Wall  Street,  Washington, 
Newport,  everywhere?" 

"You're  no  optimist,  anyhow!" 

"  I  hope  I'm  blind  in  neither  eye." 

"You  don't  give  us  credit  —  " 

"  For  what  ?  " 

"  For  what  we've  accomplished  since  Jacob." 

"  Printing,  steam,  and  electricity,  for  instance  ? 
They  spread  the  Bible  and  the  yellow  journal 
with  equal  velocity." 

"  I  don't  mean  science.     Take  our  institutions." 

"  Well,  we've  accomplished  hospitals  and  the 
stock  market  —  a  pretty  even  set-off  between  God 
and  the  devil." 

He  laughed.  "  You  don't  take  a  high  view  of 
us!" 

"  Nor  a  low  one.  I  don't  play  ostrich  with  any 
of  the  staring  permanences  of  human  nature. 
We're  just  as  noble  to-day  as  David  was  some 
times,  and  just  as  bestial  to-day  as  David  was 
sometimes,  and  we've  every  possibility  inside  us 
all  the  time,  whether  we  paint  our  naked  skins, 
or  wear  steel  armor  or  starched  shirts." 

"  Well,  I  believe  good  is  the  guiding  power  in 
the  world." 

"  Oh,  John  Mayrant !  Good  and  evil  draw  us 
on  like  a  span  of  horses,  sometimes  like  a  tandem, 
taking  turns  in  the  lead.  Order  has  melted  into 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  in 

disorder,    and    disorder    into   new   order  —  how 
many  times? " 

"  But  better  each  time." 

"  How  can  you  know,  who  never  lived  in  any 
age  but  your  own  ?  " 

"  I  know  we  have  a  higher  ideal." 

"  Have  we  ?  The  Greek  was  taught  to  love 
his  neighbor  as  himself.  He  gave  his  great  teacher 
a  cup  of  poison.  We  gave  ours  the  cross." 

Again  he  looked  away  from  me  into  the  sweet 
old  churchyard.  "  I  can't  answer  you,  but  I 
don't  believe  it." 

This  brought  me  to  gayety.  "That's  unan 
swerable,  anyhow ! " 

He  still  stared  at  the  graves.  "  Those  people  in 
there  didn't  think  all  these  uncomfortable  things." 

"  Ah,  no  !  They  belonged  in  the  first  volume 
of  the  history  of  our  national  soul,  before  the 
bloom  was  off  us." 

"  That's  an  odd  notion !  And  pray  what  volume 
are  we  in  now  ?  " 

"  Only  the  second." 

"  Since  when  ?  " 

"  Since  that  momentous  picnic,  the  Spanish 
War!" 

"  I  don't  see  how  that  took  the  bloom  off  us." 

"  It  didn't.  It  merely  waked  Europe  up  to  the 
facts." 

"  Our  battleships,  you  mean  ?  " 

"  Our  steel  rails,  our  gold  coffers,  our  roaring 
affluence." 

"  And  our  very  accurate  shooting !  "  he  insisted  ; 
for  he  was  a  Southerner,  and  man's  gallantry 
appealed  to  him  more  than  man's  industry. 


ii2  LADY   BALTIMORE 

I  laughed.  "  Yes,  indeed!  We  may  say  that 
the  Spanish  War  closed  our  first  volume  with  a 
bang.  And  now  in  the  second  we  bid  good-by 
to  the  virgin  wilderness,  for  it's  explored ;  to  the 
Indian,  for  he's  conquered ;  to  the  pioneer,  for 
he's  dead ;  we've  finished  our  wild,  romantic  ado 
lescence  and  we  find  ourselves  a  recognized  world- 
power  of  eighty  million  people,  and  of  general 
commercial  endlessness,  and  playtime  over." 

"I  think,"  John  Mayrant  now  asserted,  "  that  it 
is  going  too  far  to  say  the  bloom  is  off  us." 

"  Oh,  you'll  find  snow  in  the  woods  away  into 
April  and  May.  The  freedom-loving  American, 
the  embattled  farmer,  is  not  yet  extinct  in  the  far 
recesses.  But  the  great  cities  grow  like  a  creep 
ing  paralysis  over  freedom,  and  the  man  from  the 
country  is  walking  into  them  all  the  time  because 
the  poor,  restless  fellow  believes  wealth  awaits 
him  on  their  pavements.  And  when  he  doesn't 
go  to  them,  they  come  to  him.  The  Wall  Street 
bucket-shop  goes  fishing  in  the  woods  with  wires 
a  thousand  miles  long ;  and  so  we  exchange  the 
solid  trail-blazing  enterprise  of  Volume  One  for 
Volume  Two's  electric  unrest.  In  Volume  One 
our  wagon  was  hitched  to  the  star  of  liberty. 
Capital  and  labor  have  cut  the  traces.  The  labor 
union  forbids  the  workingman  to  labor  as  his  own 
virile  energy  and  skill  prompt  him.  If  he  dis 
obeys,  he  is  expelled  and  called  a  '  scab.'  Don't 
let  us  call  ourselves  the  land  of  the  free  while  such 
things  go  on.  We're  all  thinking  a  deal  too  much 
about  our  pockets  nowadays.  Eternal  vigilance 
cannot  watch  liberty  and  the  ticker  at  the  same 
time." 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  113 

"Well,"  said  John  M  ay  rant,  "  we're  not  think 
ing  about  our  pockets  in  Kings  Port,  because"  (and 
here  there  came  into  his  voice  and  face  that 
sudden  humor  which  made  him  so  delightful)  — 
"  because  we  haven't  got  any  pockets  to  think  of !  " 

This  brought  me  down  to  cheerfulness  from 
my  flight  among  the  cold  clouds. 

He  continued:  "Any  more  lamentations,  Mr. 
Jeremiah  ?  " 

"  Those  who  begin  to  call  names,  John  May- 
rant  —  but  never  mind  !  I  could  lament  you  sick 
if  I  chose  to  go  on  about  our  corporations  and 
corrupti6n  that  I  see  with  my  pessimistic  eye; 
but  the  other  eye  sees  the  American  man  himself 

—  the  type  that  our  eighty  millions  on  the  whole 
melt  into  and  to  which  my  heart  warms  each  time 
I  land  again  from  more  polished  and  colder  shores 

—  my  optimistic  eye  sees  that  American  dealing 
adequately   with    these    political    diseases.       For 
stronger  even  than  his  kindness,  his  ability,  and 
his    dishonesty    is    his    self-preservation.       He's 
going  to  stand  up  for  the  '  open  shop  '  and  sit  down 
on  the  '  trust ' ;  and   I  assure  you  that  I  don't  in 
the  least  resemble  the  Evening  Post? 

A  look  of  inquiry  was  in  John  Mayrant's 
features. 

"  The  New  York  Evening  Post''  I  repeated 
with  surprise.  Still  the  inquiry  of  his  face  re 
mained. 

"  Oh,  fortunate  youth  ! "  I  cried.  "  To  have 
escaped  the  New  York  Evening  Post  /" 

"  Is  it  so  heinous  ?  " 

"  Well !  .  .  .  well !  .  .  .  how  exactly  describe  it  ? 
.  .  .  make  you  see  it  ?  ...  It's  partially  tongue- 


H4  LADY   BALTIMORE 

tied,  a  sad  victim  of  its  own  excesses.  Habitual 
over-indulgence  in  blaming  has  given  it  a  pain 
ful  stutter  when  attempting  praise ;  it's  the 
sprucely  written  sheet  of  the  supercilious ;  it's 
the  after-dinner  pill  of  the  American  who  prefers 
Europe ;  it's  our  Republic's  common  scold,  the 
Xantippe  of  journalism,  the  paper  without  a 
country." 

"  The  paper  without  a  country !  That's  very 
good ! " 

"  Oh,  no  !  I'll  tell  you  something  much  better, 
but  it  is  not  mine.  A  clever  New  Yorker  said 
that  what  with  The  Sun  —  " 

"  I  know  that  paper." 

"  —  what  with  The  Sun  making  vice  so  at 
tractive  in  the  morning  and  the  Post  making 
virtue  so  odious  in  the  evening,  it  was  very  hard 
for  a  man  to  be  good  in  New  York." 

"  I  fear  I  should  subscribe  to  The  Sun''  said 
John  Mayrant.  He  took  his  hand  from  the 
church-gate  railing,  and  we  had  turned  to  stroll 
down  Worship  Street  when  he  was  unexpectedly 
addressed. 

For  some  minutes,  while  John  Mayrant  and  I 
had  been  talking,  I  had  grown  aware,  without 
taking  any  definite  note  of  it,  that  the  old  custo 
dian  of  the  churchyard,  Daddy  Ben,  had  come 
slowly  near  us  from  the  distant  corner  of  his 
demesne,  where  he  had  been  (to  all  appearances) 
engaged  in  some  trifling  activity  among  the 
flowers  — perhaps  picking  off  the  faded  blossoms. 
It  now  came  home  to  me  that  the  venerable  negro 
had  really  been,  in  a  surreptitious  way,  watching 
John  Mayrant,  and  waiting  for  something  — 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  115 


In  Worship  Street 

either  for  the  right  moment  to  utter 
i   what  he  now  uttered,  or  his  own  de 
layed  decision  to  utter  it  at  all. 


n6  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  Mas'  John  !  "  he  called  quite  softly.  His  tone 
was  fairly  padded  with  caution,  and  I  saw  that  in 
the  pause  which  followed,  his  eye  shot  a  swift 
look  at  the  bruise  on  Mayrant's  forehead,  and 
another  look,  equally  swift,  at  me. 

"  Well,  Daddy  Ben,  what  is  it  ?  " 

The  custodian  shuffled  close  to  the  gate  which 
separated  him  from  us.  "  Mas'  John,  I  speck  de 
President  he  dun'  know  de  cullud  people  like  we 
knows  'um,  else  he  nebber  bin  'pint  dat  ar  boss  in 
de  Cussum  House,  no,  sah." 

After  this  effort  he  wiped  his  forehead  and 
breathed  hard. 

To  my  astonishment,  the  effort  brought  imme 
diately  a  stern  change  over  John  Mayrant's  face ; 
then  he  answered  in  the  kindest  tones,  "  Thank 
you,  Daddy  Ben." 

This  answer  interpreted  for  me  the  whole  thing, 
which  otherwise  would  have  been  obscure  enough: 
the  old  man  held  it  to  be  an  indignity  that  his 
young  "  Mas'  John  "  should,  by  the  President's 
act,  find  himself  the  subordinate  of  a  member  of 
the  black  race,  and  he  had  just  now,  in  his  per 
spiring  effort,  expressed  his  sympathy !  Why  he 
had  chosen  this  particular  moment  (after  quite 
obvious  debate  with  himself)  I  did  not  see  until 
somewhat  later. 

He  now  left  us  standing  at  the  gate ;  and  it  was 
not  for  some  moments  that  John  Mayrant  spoke 
again,  evidently  closing,  for  our  two  selves,  this 
delicate  subject. 

"  I  wish  we  had  not  got  into  that  second  volume 
of  yours." 

"  That's  not  progressive." 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  117 

"  I  hate  progress." 

"  What's  the  use  ?     Better  grow  old  gracefully  ! 

"  '  Qui  rfa  pas  V esprit  de  son  dge 
De  son  dge  a  tout  le  malheur?  " 

"Well,  I'm  personally  not  growing  old,  just  yet." 

"  Neither  is  the  United  States." 

"  Well,  I  don't  know.  It's  too  easy  for  sick  or 
worthless  people  to  survive  nowadays.  They  are 
clotting  up  our  square  miles  very  fast.  Philan 
thropists  don't  seem  to  remember  that  you  can 
beget  children  a  great  deal  faster  than  you  can 
educate  them ;  and  at  this  rate  I  believe  universal 
suffrage  will  kill  us  off  before  our  time." 

"  Do  not  believe  it !  We  are  going  to  find  out 
that  universal  suffrage  is  like  the  appendix  — 
useful  at  an  early  stage  of  the  race's  evolution 
but  to-day  merely  a  threat  to  life." 

He  thought  this  over.  "  But  a  surgical  opera 
tion  is  pretty  serious,  you  know." 

"  It'll  be  done  by  absorption.  Why,  you've 
begun  it  yourselves,  and  so  has  Massachusetts. 
The  appendix  will  be  removed,  black  and  white 
—  and  I  shouldn't  much  fear  surgery.  We're  not 
nearly  civilized  enough  yet  to  have  lost  the  power 
of  recuperation,  and  in  spite  of  our  express-train 
speed,  I  doubt  if  we  shall  travel  from  crudity  to 
rottenness  without  a  pause  at  maturity." 

"  That  is  the  old,  old  story,"  he  said. 

"  Yes ;  is  there  anything  new  under  the  sun  ?  " 

He  was  gloomy.  "  Nothing,  I  suppose."  Then 
the  gloom  lightened.  "  Nothing  new  under  the 
sun  —  except  the  fashionable  families  of  New 
port  !  " 


n8  LADY   BALTIMORE 

This  again  brought  us  from  the  clouds  of  specu 
lation  down  to  Worship  Street,  where  we  were 
walking  toward  South  Place.  It  also  unex 
pectedly  furnished  me  with  the  means  to  lead 
back  our  talk  so  gently,  without  a  jolt  or  a  jerk, 
to  my  moral  and  the  delicate  topic  of  matrimony 
from  which  he  had  dodged  away,  that  he  never 
awoke  to  what  was  coming  until  it  had  come. 
He  began  pointing  out,  as  we  passed  them,  cer 
tain  houses  which  were  now,  or  had  at  some  period 
been,  the  dwellings  of  his  many  relatives :  "  My 
cousin  Julia  So-and-so  lives  there,"  he  would  say; 
or,  "  My  great-uncle,  known  as  Regent  Tom, 
owned  that  before  the  War " ;  and  once,  "  The 
Rev.  Joseph  Priedieu,  my  great-grandfather,  built 
that  house  to  marry  his  fifth  wife  in,  but  the  grave 
claimed  him  first." 

So  I  asked  him  a  riddle.  "  What  is  the  differ 
ence  between  Kings  Port  and  Newport  ?  " 

This  he,  of  course,  gave  up. 

"  Here  you  are  all  connected  by  marriage,  and 
there  they  are  all  connected  by  divorce." 

"  That's  true !  "  he  cried.  "  That's  very  true. 
I  met  the  most  embarrassingly  eater-cornered 
families." 

"  Oh,  they  weren't  embarrassed  !  "  I  interjected. 

"  No,  but  /was,"  said  John. 

"And  you  told  me  you  weren't  innocent!"  I 
exclaimed.  "  They  are  going  to  institute  a  divorce 
march,"  I  continued.  "  '  Lohengrin  '  or  '  Mid 
summer-Night's  Dream  '  played  backward.  They 
have  not  settled  which.  It  is  to  be  taught  in  the 
nursery  with  the  other  kindergarten  melodies." 

He  was  still  unsuspectingly  diverted ;  and  we 


MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM  119 

walked  along  until  we  turned  in  the  direction  of 
my  boarding-house. 

"Did  you  ever  notice,"  I  now  said,  "what  a 
perpetual  allegory  '  Midsummer-Night's  Dream  ' 
contains  ?  " 

"  I  thought  it  was  just  a  fairy  sort  of  thing." 

"  Yes,  but  when  a  great  poet  sets  his  hand  to 
a  fairy  sort  of  thing,  you  get  —  well,  you  get  poor 
Titania." 

"  She  fell  in  love  with  a  jackass,"  he  remarked. 
"  Puck  bewitched  her." 

"  Precisely.  A  lovely  woman  with  her  arms 
around  a  jackass.  Does  that  never  happen  in 
Kings  Port  ?  " 

He  began  smiling  to  himself.  "  I'm  afraid  Puck 
isn't  all  dead  yet." 

I  was  now  in  a  position  to  begin  dropping  my 
bitters.  "  Shakespeare  was  probably  too  gallant  to 
put  it  the  other  way,  and  make  Oberon  fall  in 
love  with  a  female  jackass.  But  what  an  allegory ! " 

"  Yes,"  he  muttered.     "  Yes." 

I  followed  with  another  drop.  "  Titania  got 
out  of  it.  It  is  not  always  solved  so  easily." 

"  No,"  he  muttered.  "  No."  It  was  quite  evi 
dent  that  the  flavor  of  my  bitters  reached  him. 

He  was  walking  slowly,  with  his  head  down, 
and  frowning  hard.  We  had  now  come  to  the 
steps  of  my  boarding-house,  and  I  dropped  my 
last  drop.  "  But  a  disenchanted  woman  has  the 
best  of  it  —  before  marriage,  at  least." 

He  looked  up  quickly.     "  How  ?  " 

I  evinced  surprise.  "Why,  she  can  always 
break  off  honorably,  and  we  never  can,  I  sup 
pose." 


I2O 


LADY   BALTIMORE 


We  had  now  com*  to  the  steps  of  my  boarding-house 

For  the  third  time  this  day  he  made  me  an 
astonishing  rejoinder:  "Would  you  like  to  take 
orders  from  a  negro  ?  " 


"MIDSUMMER-NIGHT'S   DREAM"  121 

It  reduced  me  to  stammering.  "  I  have  never 
—  such  a  juncture  has  never —  " 

"  Of  course  you  wouldn't.    Even  a  Northerner ! " 

His  face,  as  he  said  this,  was  a  single  glittering 
piece  of  fierceness.  I  was  still  so  much  taken 
aback  that  I  said  rather  flatly :  "  But  who  has 
to  ?  " 

"  I  have  to."  With  this  he  abruptly  turned  on 
his  heel  and  left  me  standing  on  the  steps.  For 
a  moment  I  stared  after  him ;  and  then,  as  I  rang 
the  bell,  he  was  back  again ;  and  with  that  for 
mality  which  at  times  overtook  him  he  began  :  "  I 
will  ask  you  to  excuse  my  hasty  —  " 

"  Oh,  John  Mayrant !     What  a  notion  !  " 

But  he  was  by  no  means  to  be  put  off,  and  he 
proceeded  with  stiffer  formality :  "  I  feel  that  I 
have  not  acted  politely  just  now,  and  I  beg  to 
assure  you  that  I  intended  no  slight." 

My  first  impulse  was  to  lay  a  hand  upon  his 
shoulder  and  say  to  him :  "  My  dear  fellow,  stuff 
and  nonsense  !  "  Thus  I  should  have  treated  any 
Northern  friend ;  but  here  was  no  Northerner. 
I  am  glad  that  I  had  the  sense  to  feel  that  any 
careless,  good-natured  putting  away  of  his  delib 
erate  and  definitely  tendered  apology  would  seem 
to  him  a  "slight"  on  my  part.  His  punctilious 
value  for  certain  observances  between  man  and 
man  reached  me  suddenly  and  deeply,  and  took 
me  far  from  the  familiarity  which  breeds  con 
tempt. 

"Why,  John  Mayrant,"  I  said,  "you  could 
never  offend  me  unless  I  thought  that  you  wished 
to,  and  how  should  I  possibly  think  that  ?  " 

"  Thank  you,"  he  replied  very  simply. 


122  LADY   BALTIMORE 

I  rang  the  bell  a  second  time.  "  If  we  can  get 
into  the  house,"  I  suggested,  "  won't  you  stop  and 
dine  with  me  ? " 

He  was  going  to  accept.  "  I  shall  be  — "  he 
had  begun,  in  tones  of  gratification,  when  in  one 
instant  his  face  was  stricken  with  complete  dis 
may.  "  I  had  forgotten,"  he  said  ;  and  this  time 
he  was  gone  indeed,  and  in  a  hurry  most  apparent. 
It  resembled  a  flight. 

What  was  the  matter  now?  You  will  naturally 
think  that  it  was  an  appointment  with  his  lady 
love  which  he  had  forgotten ;  this  was  certainly 
my  supposition  as  I  turned  again  to  the  front 
door.  There  stood  one  of  the  waitresses,  glaring 
with  her  white  eyes  half  out  of  her  black  face  at 
the  already  distant  back  of  John  Mayrant. 

"Oh!"  I  thought;  but,  before  I  could  think 
any  more,  the  tall,  dreadful  boarder  —  the  lady 
whom  I  secretly  called  Juno  —  swept  up  the  steps, 
and  by  me  into  the  house,  with  a  dignity  that  one 
might  term  deafening. 

The  waitress  now  muttered,  or  rather  sang,  a 
series  of  pious  apostrophes.  "  Oh,  Lawd,  de  ram 
pages  and  de  ructions  !  Oh,  Lawd,  sinner  is  in 
my  way,  Daniel  !  "  She  was  strongly,  but  I  think 
pleasurably,  excited ;  and  she  next  turned  to  me 
with  a  most  natural  grin,  and  saying,  "  Chick'n's 
mos'  gone,  sah,"  she  went  back  to  the  dining 
room. 

This  admonition  sent  me  upstairs  to  make  as 
hasty  a  toilet  as  I  cauld. 


IX 

JUNO 

"C^ACH  recent  remarkable  occurrence  had  ob- 
-t-^  literated  its  predecessor,  and  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  I  made  a  straight  parting  in  my 
hair.  Had  it  been  Miss  Rieppe  that  John  so 
suddenly  ran  away  to?  It  seemed  now  more 
as  if  the  boy  had  been  running  away  from  some 
body.  The  waitress  had  stared  at  him  with  ex 
traordinary  interest;  she  had  seen  his  bruise; 
perhaps  she  knew  how  he  had  got  it.  Her  ex 
citement  —  had  he  smashed  up  his  official  superior 
at  the  custom  house  ?  That  would  be  an  impos 
sible  thing,  I  told  myself  instantly ;  as  well  might 
a  nobleman  cross  swords  with  a  peasant.  Per 
haps  the  stare  of  the  waitress  had  reminded  him 
of  his  bruise,  and  he  might  have  felt  disinclined  to 
show  himself  with  it  in  a  company  of  gossiping 
strangers.  Still,  that  would  scarcely  account  for 
the  dismay  with  which  he  had  so  suddenly  left  me. 
Was  Juno  the  cause  —  she  had  come  up  behind 
me ;  he  must  have  seen  her  and  her  portentous 
manner  approaching  —  had  the  boy  fled  from  her  ? 
And  then,  his  fierce  outbreak  about  taking  orders 
from  a  negro  when  I  was  moralizing  over  the 
misfortune  of  marrying  a  jackass !  I  got  a  sort  of 
parting  in  my  hair,  and  went  down  to  the  dining 
room. 

123 


124  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Juno  was  there  before  me,  with  her  bonnet,  or 
rather  her  headdress,  still  on,  and  I  heard  her 
making  apologies  to  Mrs.  Trevise  for  being  so 
late.  Mrs.  Trevise,  of  course,  sat  at  the  head  of 
her  table,  and  Juno  sat  at  her  right  hand.  I  was 
very  glad  not  to  have  a  seat  near  Juno,  because 
this  lady  was,  as  I  have  already  hinted,  an  intol 
erable  person  to  me.  Either  her  Southern  social 
position  or  her  rent  (she  took  the  whole  second 
floor,  except  Mrs.  Trevise's  own  rooms)  was  of  im 
portance  to  Mrs.  Trevise ;  but  I  assure  you  that 
her  ways  kept  our  landlady's  cold,  impervious  tact 
watchful  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  almost 
every  meal.  Juno  was  one  of  those  persons  who 
possess  so  many  and  such  strong  feelings  them 
selves  that  they  think  they  have  all  the  feelings 
there  are;  at  least,  they  certainly  consider  no 
one's  feelings  but  their  own.  She  possessed  an 
inexhaustible  store  of  anecdote,  but  it  was  exclu 
sively  about  our  Civil  War ;  you  would  have  sup 
posed  that  nothing  else  had  ever  happened  in  the 
world.  When  conversation  among  the  rest  of  us 
became  general,  she  preserved  a  cold  and  acrid 
inattention  ;  when  the  fancy  took  her  to  open  her 
own  mouth,  it  was  always  to  begin  some  reminis 
cence,  and  the  reminiscence  always  began :  "  In 
September,  1862,  when  the  Northern  vandals," 
etc.,  etc.,  or  "  When  the  Northern  vandals  were 
repulsed  by  my  husband's  cousin,  General  Brax- 
ton  Bragg,"  etc.,  etc.  Now  it  was  not  that  I  was 
personally  wounded  by  the  term,  because  at  the 
time  of  the  vandals  I  was  not  even  born,  and  also 
because  I  know  that  vandals  cannot  be  kept  out 
of  any  army.  Deeply  as  I  believed  the  March  to 


JUNO  125 

the  Sea  to  have  been  imperative,  of  "  Sherman's 
bummers  "  and  their  excesses  I  had  a  fair  historic 
knowledge  and  a  very  poor  opinion  ;  and  this  I 
should  have  been  glad  to  tell  Juno,  had  she  ever 
given  me  the  chance  ;  but  her  immodest  sym 
pathy  for  herself  froze  all  sympathy  for  her.  Why 
could  she  not  preserve  a  well-bred  silence  upon 
her  sufferings,  as  did  the  other  old  ladies  I  had 
met  in  Kings  Port?  Why  did  she  drag  them  in, 
thrust  them,  poke  them,  shove  them  at  you  ? 
Thus  it  was  that  for  her  insulting  disregard  of 
those  whom  her  words  might  wound  I  detested 
Juno  ;  and  as  she  was  a  woman,  and  nearly  old 
enough  to  be  my  grandmother,  it  was,  of  course, 
out  of  the  question  that  I  should  retaliate.  When 
she  got  very  bad  indeed,  it  was  calm  Mrs.  Trevise's 
last,  but  effective,  resort  to  tinkle  a  little  hand 
bell  and  scold  one  of  the  waitresses  whom  its 
sound  would  then  summon  from  the  kitchen. 
This  bell  was  tinkled  not  always  by  any  means 
for  my  sake ;  other  travellers  from  the  North  there 
were  who  came  and  went,  pausing  at  Kings  Port 
between  Florida  and  their  habitual  abodes. 

At  present  our  company  consisted  of  Juno ;  a 
middle-class  Englishman  employed  in  some  busi 
ness  capacity  in  town ;  a  pair  of  very  young 
honeymooners  from  the  "  up-country " ;  a  Louisi 
ana  poetess,  who  wore  the  long,  cylindrical  ring 
lets  of  1830,  and  who  was  attending  a  convention 
of  the  Daughters  of  Dixie;  two  or  three  males  and 
females,  best  described  as  et  ceteras ;  and  myself. 

"  I  shall  only  take  a  mouthful  for  the  sake  of 
nourishment,"  Juno  was  announcing,  "and  then  I 
shall  return  to  his  bedside." 


126  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  Is  he  very  suffering  ?"  inquired  the  poetess,  in 
melodious  accent. 

"  It  was  an  infamous  onslaught,"  Juno  replied. 

The  poetess  threw  up  her  eyes  and  crooned, 
"  Noble,  doughty  champion  !  " 

"  You  may  say  so  indeed,  madam,"  said  Juno. 

"  Raw  beefsteak's  jolly  good  for  your  eye,"  ob 
served  the  Briton. 

This  suggestion  did  not  appear  to  be  heard  by 
Juno. 

"  I  had  a  row  with  a  chap,"  the  Briton  con 
tinued.  "  He's  my  best  friend  now.  He  made 
me  put  raw  beefsteak  —  " 

"  I  thank  you,"  interrupted  Juno.  "  He  re 
quires  no  beefsteak,  raw  or  cooked." 

The  face  of  the  Briton  reddened.  "  Too  groggy 
to  eat,  is  he  ?  " 

Mrs.  Trevise  tinkled  her  bell.  "Daphne!  I 
have  said  to  you  twice  to  hand  those  yams." 

"  I  done  handed  'em  twice,  ma'am." 

"  Hand  them  right  away,  Daphne,  and  don't  be 
so  forgetful."  It  was  not  easy  to  disturb  the 
composure  of  Mrs.  Trevise. 

The  poetess  now  took  up  the  broken  thread. 
"  Had  I  a  son,"  she  declared,  "  I  would  sooner 
witness  him  starve  than  hear  him  take  orders  from 
a  menial  race." 

"  But  mightn't  starving  be  harder  for  him  to 
experience  than  for  you  to  witness,  y'  know?" 
asked  the  Briton. 

At  this  one  of  the  et  ceteras  made  a  sort  of 
snuffling  noise,  and  ate  his  dinner  hard. 

It  was  the  male  honeymooner  who  next  spoke. 
"  Must  have  been  quite  a  tussle,  ma'am." 


JUNO  127 

"  It  was  an  infamous  onslaught !  "  repeated  Juno. 

"  Wish  I'd  seen  it!  "  sighed  the  honeymooner. 

His  bride  smiled  at  him  beamingly.  "  You'd 
have  felt  right  lonesome  to  be  out  of  it,  David." 

"  No  apology  has  yet  been  offered,"  continued 
Juno. 

"  But  must  your  nephew  apologize  besides  tak 
ing  a  licking  ?  "  inquired  the  Briton. 

Juno  turned  an  awful  face  upon  him.  "  It  is 
from  his  brutal  assailant  that  apologies  are  due. 
Mr.  Mayrant's  family  "  (she  paused  here  for  blight 
ing  emphasis)  "are  well-bred  people,  and  he  will 
be  coerced  into  behaving  like  a  gentleman  for 


once." 


I  checked  an  impulse  here  to  speak  out  and  ex 
press  my  doubts  as  to  the  family  coercion  being 
founded  upon  any  dissatisfaction  with  John's 
conduct. 

"  I  wonder  if  reading  or  recitation  might  not 
soothe  your  nephew  ? "  said  the  poetess,  now. 

"  I  should  doubt  it,"  answered  Juno.  "  I  have 
just  come  from  his  bedside." 

"  I  should  so  like  to  soothe  him,  if  I  could," 
the  poetess  murmured.  "  If  he  were  well  enough 
to  hear  my  convention  ode  —  " 

"  He  is  not  nearly  well  enough,"  said  Juno. 

The  et  cetera  here  coughed  and  blew  his  nose 
so  remarkably  that  we  all  started. 

A  short  silence  followed,  which  Juno  relieved. 
"  I  will  give  the  young  ruffian's  family  the  credit 
they  deserve,"  she  stated.  "  The  whole  connection 
despises  his  keeping  the  position." 

Another  et  cetera  now  came  into  it.  "  Is  it 
known  what  exactly  precipitated  the  occurrence  ? " 


128  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Juno  turned  to  him.  "  My  nephew  is  a  gentle 
man  from  whose  lips  no  unworthy  word  could 
ever  fall." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  the  et  cetera,  mildly.  "  He  said 
something,  then  ?  " 

"  He  conveyed  a  well-merited  rebuke  in  fitting 
terms." 

"  What  were  the  terms  ?  "  inquired  the  Briton. 

Juno  again  did  not  hear  him.  "  It  was  after  a 
friendly  game  of  cards.  My  nephew  protested 
against  any  gentleman  remaining  at  the  custom 
house  since  the  recent  insulting  appointment." 

I  was  now  almost  the  only  member  of  the 
party  who  had  preserved  strict  silence  throughout 
this  very  interesting  conversation,  because,  having 
no  wish  to  converse  with  Juno  at  any  time,  I 
especially  did  not  desire  it  now,  just  after  her  see 
ing  me  (I  thought  she  must  have  seen  me)  in 
amicable  conference  with  the  object  of  her  for 
midable  displeasure. 

"  Every  Mayrant  is  ferocious  that  I  ever  heard 
of,"  she  continued.  "  You  cannot  trust  that 
seemingly  delicate  and  human  exterior.  His 
father  had  it,  too  —  deceiving  exterior  and  raging 
interior,  though  I  will  say  for  that  one  that  he 
would  never  have  stooped  to  humiliate  the  family 
name  as  his  son  is  doing.  His  regiment  was 
near  by  when  the  Northern  vandals  burned  our 
courthouse,  and  he  made  them  run,  I  can  tell 
you!  It's  a  mercy  for  that  poor  girl  that  the 
scales  have  dropped  from  her  eyes  and  she  has 
broken  her  engagement  with  him." 

"  With  the  father  ?  "  asked  a  third  et  cetera. 

Juno  stared  at  the  intruder. 


JUNO  129 

Mrs.  Trevise  drawled  a  calm  contribution. 
"  The  father  died  before  this  boy  was  born." 

"  Oh,  I  see ! "  murmured  the  et  cetera,  grate 
fully. 

Juno  proceeded.  "  No  woman's  life  would  be 
safe  with  him." 

"  But  mightn't  he  be  safer  for  a  person's  niece 
than  for  their  nephew  ?  "  said  the  Briton. 

Mrs.  Trevise's  hand  moved  toward  the  bell. 

But  Juno  answered  the  question  mournfully  : 
"With  such  hereditary  bloodthirstiness,  who  can 
tell  ? "  And  so  Mrs.  Trevise  moved  her  hand 
away  again. 

"  Excuse  me,  but  do  you  know  if  the  other 
gentleman  is  laid  up,  too?"  inquired  the  male 
honeymooner,  hopefully. 

"  I  am  happy  to  understand  that  he  is,"  replied 
Juno. 

In  sheer  amazement  I  burst  out,  "  Oh  !  "  and 
abruptly  stopped. 

But  it  was  too  late.  I  had  instantly  become 
the  centre  of  interest.  The  et  ceteras  and  honey- 
mooners  craned  their  necks;  the  Briton  leaned 
toward  me  from  opposite ;  the  poetess,  who  had 
worn  an  absent  expression  since  being  told  that 
the  injured  champion  was  not  nearly  well  enough 
to  listen  to  her  ode,  now  put  on  her  glasses  and 
gazed  at  me  kindly;  while  Juno  reared  her  head 
dress  and  spoke,  not  to  me,  but  to  the  air  in  my 
general  neighborhood. 

"  Has  any  one  later  intelligence  than  what  I 
bring  from  my  nephew's  bedside  ?  " 

So  she  hadn't  perceived  who  my  companion  at 
the  step  had  been !  Well,  she  should  be  enlight- 


i3o  LADY   BALTIMORE 

ened,  they  all  should  be  enlightened,  and  ven 
geance  was  mine.  I  spoke  with  gentleness :  — 

"  Your  nephew's  impressions,  I  fear,  are  still 
confused  by  his  deplorable  misadventure." 

"  May  I  ask  what  you  know  about  his  impres 
sions  ?  " 

Out  of  the  corner  of  my  eye  I  saw  the  hand  of 
Mrs.  Trevise  move  toward  her  bell ;  but  she 
wished  to  hear  all  about  it  more  than  she  wished 
concord  at  her  harmonious  table;  and  the  hand 
stopped. 

Juno  spoke  again.  "  Who,  pray,  has  later  news 
than  what  I  bring  ?  " 

My  enemy  was  in  my  hand ;  and  an  enemy  in 
the  hand  is  worth  I  don't  know  how  many  in  the 
bush. 

I  answered  most  gently :  "  I  do  not  come  from 
Mr.  Mayrant's  bedside,  because  I  have  just  left 
him  at  the  front  door  in  sound  health  —  saving  a 
bruise  over  his  left  eye." 

During  a  second  we  all  sat  in  a  high-strung 
silence,  and  then  Juno  became  truly  superb. 
"  Who  sees  the  scars  he  brazenly  conceals  ?  " 

It  took  away  my  breath ;  my  battle  would  have 
been  lost,  when  the  Briton  suggested :  "  But 
mayn't  he  have  shown  those  to  his  Aunt  ?  " 

We  sat  in  no  silence  now;  the  first  et  cetera 
made  extraordinary  sounds  on  his  plate,  Mrs. 
Trevise  tinkled  her  handbell  with  more  unction 
than  I  had  ever  yet  seen  in  her ;  and  while  she  and 
Daphne  interchanged  streams  of  severe  words 
which  I  was  too  disconcerted  to  follow,  the  other 
et  ceteras  and  the  honeymooners  hectically  effer 
vesced  into  small  talk.  I  presently  found  myself 


JUNO  131 

eating  our  last  course  amid  a  reestablished  calm, 
when,  with  a  rustle,  Juno  swept  out  from  among 
us,  to  return  (I  suppose)  to  the  bedside.  As  she 
passed  behind  the  Briton's  chair,  that  invaluable 
person  kicked  me  under  the  table,  and  on  my 
raising  my  eyes  to  him  he  gave  me  a  large,  robust 
wink. 


X 

HIGH    WALK    AND    THE    LADIES 

T  NOW  burned  to  put  many  questions  to  the 
•^  rest  of  the  company.  If,  through  my  foolish 
and  outreaching  slyness  with  the  girl  behind  the 
counter,  the  door  of  my  comprehension  had  been 
shut,  Juno  had  now  opened  it  sufficiently  wide 
for  a  number  of  facts  to  come  crowding  in,  so  to 
speak,  abreast.  Indeed,  their  simultaneous  arrival 
was  not  a  little  confusing,  as  if  several  visitors  had 
burst  in  upon  me  and  at  once  begun  speaking 
loudly,  each  shouting  a  separate  and  important 
matter  which  demanded  my  intelligent  considera 
tion.  John  Mayrant  worked  in  the  custom 
house,  and  Kings  Port  frowned  upon  this ;  not 
merely  Kings  Port  in  general  —  which  counted 
little  with  the  boy,  if  indeed  he  noticed  general 
opinion  at  all  —  but  the  boy's  particular  Kings 
Port,  his  severe  old  aunts,  and  his  cousins,  and 
the  pretty  girl  at  the  Exchange,  and  the  men  he 
played  cards  with,  all  these  frowned  upon  it,  too ; 
yet  even  this  condemnation  one  could  disregard 
if  some  lofty  personal  principle,  some  pledge  to 
one's  own  sacred  honor,  were  at  stake  —  but  here 
was  no  such  thing :  John  Mayrant  hated  the 
position  himself.  The  salary  ?  No,  the  salary 
would  count  for  nothing  in  the  face  of  such 
a  prejudice  as  I  had  seen  glitter  from  his  eye  ! 
A  strong,  clever  youth  of  twenty-three,  with  the 

132 


HIGH   WALK  AND   THE   LADIES  133 

world  before  him,  and  no  one  to  support  —  stop ! 
Hortense  Rieppe  !  There  was  the  lofty  personal 
principle,  the  sacred  pledge  to  honor;  he  was 
engaged  presently  to  endow  her  with  all  his 
worldly  goods ;  and  to  perform  this  faithfully  a 
bridegroom  must  not,  no  matter  how  little  he 
liked  "  taking  orders  from  a  negro,"  fling  away 
his  worldly  goods  some  few  days  before  he  was 
to  pronounce  his  bridegroom's  vow.  So  here, 
at  Mrs.  T  revise's  dinner-table,  I  caught  for  one 
moment,  to  the  full,  a  vision  of  the  unhappy 
boy's  plight ;  he  was  sticking  to  a  task  which 
he  loathed  that  he  might  support  a  wife  whom 
he  no  longer  desired.  Such,  as  he  saw  it,  was 
his  duty;  and  nobody,  not  even  a  soul  of  his 
kin  or  his  kind,  gave  him  a  word  or  a  thought 
of  understanding,  gave  him  anything  except  the 
cold  shoulder.  Yes;  from  one  soul  he  had  got 
a  sign — from  aged  Daddy  Ben,  at  the  church 
yard  gate ;  and  amid  my  jostling  surmises  and 
conclusions,  that  quaint  speech  of  the  old  negro, 
that  little  act  of  fidelity  and  affection  from  the 
heart  of  a  black  man,  took  on  a  strange  pathos 
in  its  isolation  amid  the  general  harshness  of  his 
white  superiors.  Over  this  it  was  that  I  was 
pausing  when,  all  in  a  second,  perplexity  again 
ruled  my  meditations.  Juno  had  said  that  the 
engagement  was  broken.  Well,  if  that  were  the 
case  —  But  was  it  likely  to  be  the  case  ? 
Juno's  agreeable  habit,  a  habit  grown  familiar  to 
all  of  us  in  the  house,  was  to  sprinkle  about, 
along  with  her  vitriol,  liberal  quantities  of  the 
by-product  of  inaccuracy.  Mingled  with  her 
latest  lustrations,  she  had  poured  out  for  us  one 


134  LADY   BALTIMORE 

good  dose  of  falsehood,  the  antidote  for  which 
it  had  been  my  happy  office  to  administer  on  the 
spot.  If  John  Mayrant  wasn't  in  bed  from  the 
wounds  of  combat,  as  she  had  given  us  to  sup 
pose,  perhaps  Hortense  Rieppe  hadn't  released 
him  from  his  plighted  troth,  as  Juno  had  also  an 
nounced;  and  distinct  relief  filled  me  when  I 
reasoned  this  out.  I  leave  others  to  reason  out 
why  it  was  relief,  and  why  a  dull  disappointment 
had  come  over  me  at  the  news  that  the  match  was 
off.  This,  for  me,  should  have  been  good  news, 
when  you  consider  that  I  had  been  so  lately  telling 
myself  such  a  marriage  must  not  be,  that  I  must 
myself,  somehow  (since  no  one  else  would),  step 
in  and  arrest  the  calamity ;  and  it  seems  odd  that 
I  should  have  felt  this  blankness  and  regret  upon 
learning  that  the  parties  had  happily  settled  it  for 
themselves,  and  hence  my  difficult  and  delicate 
assistance  was  never  to  be  needed  by  them. 

Did  any  one  else  now  sitting  at  our  table  know 
of  Miss  Rieppe 's  reported  act?  What  particulars 
concerning  John's  fight  had  been  given  by  Juno 
before  my  entrance  ?  It  didn't  surprise  me  that 
her  nephew  was  in  bed  from  Master  Mayrant's 
lusty  blows.  One  could  readily  guess  the  manner 
in  which  young  John,  with  his  pent-up  fury  over 
the  custom  house,  would  "  land  "  his  chastisement 
all  over  the  person  of  any  rash  critic !  And  what 
a  talking  about  it  must  be  going  on  everywhere 
to-day !  If  Kings  Port  tongues  had  been  set  in 
motion  over  me  and  my  small  notebook  in  a 
library,  the  whole  town  must  be  buzzing  over 
every  bruise  given  and  taken  in  this  evidently 
emphatic  battle.  I  had  hoped  to  glean  some 


HIGH   WALK   AND   THE   LADIES  135 

more  precise  information  from  my  fellow-boarders 
after  Juno  had  disembarrassed  us  of  her  sonorous 
presence ;  but  even  if  they  were  possessed  of  all 
the  facts  which  I  lacked,  Mrs.  Trevise  in  some 
masterly  fashion  of  her  own  banished  the  subject 
from  further  discussion.  She  held  us  off  from  it 
chiefly,  I  think,  by  adopting  a  certain  upright 
posture  in  her  chair,  and  a  certain  tone  when  she 
inquired  if  we  wished  a  second  help  of  the  pud 
ding.  After  thirty-five  years  of  boarders  and 
butchers,  life  held  no  secrets  or  surprises  for  her ; 
she  was  a  mature,  lone,  disenchanted,  able  lady, 
and  even  her  silence  was  like  an  arm  of  the  law. 

An  all  too  brief  conversation,  nipped  by  Mrs. 
Trevise  at  a  stage  even  earlier  than  the  bud, 
revealed  to  me  that  perhaps  my  fellow-boarders 
would  have  been  glad  to  ask  me  questions,  too. 

It  was  the  male  honeymooner  who  addressed 
me.  "  Did  I  understand  you  to  say,  sir,  that  Mr. 
Mayrant  had  received  a  bruise  over  his  left  eye  ?  " 

"  Daphne ! "  called  out  Mrs.  Trevise,  "  Mr. 
Henderson  will  take  an  orange." 

And  so  we  finished  our  meal  without  further 
reference  to  eyes,  or  noses,  or  anything  of  the 
sort.  It  was  just  as  well,  I  reflected,  when  I 
reached  my  room,  that  I  on  my  side  had  been 
asked  no  questions,  since  I  most  likely  knew  less 
than  the  others  who  had  heard  all  that  Juno  had 
to  say ;  and  it  would  have  been  humiliating,  after 
my  superb  appearance  of  knowing  more,  to  explain 
that  John  Mayrant  had  walked  with  me  all  the 
way  from  the  Library,  and  never  told  me  a  word 
about  the  affair. 

This   reflection   increased   my  esteem  for  the 


136  LADY  BALTIMORE 

boy's  admirable  reticence.  What  private  matter 
of  his  own  had  I  ever  learned  from  him  ?  It  was 
other  people,  invariably,  who  told  me  of  his 
troubles.  There  had  been  that  single,  quickly 
controlled  outbreak  about  his  position  in  the 
Custom  House,  and  also  he  had  let  fall  that  touch 
ing  word  concerning  his  faith  and  his  liking  to 
say  his  prayers  in  the  place  where  his  mother  had 
said  them ;  beyond  this,  there  had  never  yet  been 
anything  of  all  that  must  at  the  present  moment 
be  intimately  stirring  in  his  heart. 

Should  I  "like  to  take  orders  from  a  negro"? 
Put  personally,  it  came  to  me  now  as  a  new  idea, 
came  as  something  which  had  never  entered  my 
mind  before,  not  even  as  an  abstract  hypothesis. 
I  didn't  have  to  think  before  reaching  the  answer, 
though;  something  within  me,  which  you  may 
call  what  you  please  —  convention,  prejudice, 
instinct  —  something  answered  most  promptly 
and  emphatically  in  the  negative.  I  revolved  it 
in  my  mind  as  I  tried  to  pack  into  a  box  a  num 
ber  of  objects  that  I  had  bought  in  one  or  two 
"  antique "  shops.  They  wouldn't  go  in,  the 
objects;  they  were  of  defeating  and  recalcitrant 
shapes,  and  of  hostile  materials  —  glass  and  brass 
—  and  I  must  have  a  larger  box  made,  and  in 
•that  case  I  would  buy  this  afternoon  the  other 
kettle-supporter  (I  forget  its  right  name)  and  have 
the  whole  lot  decently  packed.  Take  orders  from 
a  colored  man  ?  Have  him  give  you  directions, 
dictate  you  letters,  discipline  you  if  you  were 
unpunctual  ?  No,  indeed !  And  if  such  were 
my  feeling,  how  must  this  young  Southerner  feel? 
With  this  in  my  mind,  I  made  sure  that  the  part 


HIGH   WALK   AND   THE    LADIES  137 

in  my  back  hair  was  right,  and  after  that  precau 
tion  soon  found  myself  on  my  way,  in  a  way 
somewhat  roundabout,  to  the  kettle-supporter, 
sauntering  northward  along  High  Walk,  and 
stopping  often ;  the  town,  and  the  water,  and  the 


The  town,  and  the  water,  and  the  distant  shores  .  .  .  melted 
into  one  gentle  impression  of  wistfulness  and  tenderness 

distant  shores  all  were  so  lovely,  so  belonged  to 
one  another,  so  melted  into  one  gentle  impression 
of  wistfulness  and  tenderness !  I  leaned  upon  the 
stone  parapet  and  enjoyed  the  quiet  which  every 
surrounding  detail  brought  to  my  senses.  How 
could  John  Mayrant  endure  such  a  situation  ? 


138  LADY   BALTIMORE 

I  continued  to  wonder ;  and  I  also  continued  to 
assure  myself  it  was  absurd  to  suppose  that  the 
engagement  was  broken. 

The  shutting  of  a  front  door  across  the  street 
almost  directly  behind  me  attracted  my  attention 
because  of  its  being  the  first  sound  that  had  hap 
pened  in  noiseless,  empty  High  Walk  since  I  had 
been  strolling  there ;  and  I  turned  from  the  para 
pet  to  see  that  I  was  no  longer  the  solitary  person 
in  the  street.  Two  ladies,  one  tall  and  one  di 
minutive,  both  in  black  and  with  long  black  veils 
which  they  had  put  back  from  their  faces,  were 
evidently  coming  from  a  visit.  As  the  tall  one 
bowed  to  me  I  recognized  Mrs.  Gregory  St. 
Michael,  and  took  off  my  hat.  It  was  not  until 
they  had  crossed  the  street  and  come  up  the  stone 
steps  near  where  I  stood  on  High  Walk  that 
the  little  lady  also  bowed  to  me ;  she  was  Mrs. 
Weguelin  St.  Michael,  and  from  something  in  her 
prim  yet  charming  manner  I  gathered  that  she 
held  it  to  be  not  perfectly  well-bred  in  a  lady  to 
greet  a  gentleman  across  the  width  of  a  public 
highway,  and  that  she  could  have  wished  that 
her  tall  companion  had  not  thus  greeted  me, 
a  stranger  likely  to  comment  upon  Kings  Port 
manners.  In  her  eyes,  such  free  deportment  evi 
dently  went  with  her  tall  companion's  method  of 
speech :  hadn't  the  little  lady  informed  me  during 
our  first  brief  meeting  that  Kings  Port  at  times 
thought  Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael's  tongue  "  too 
downright "  ? 

The  two  ladies  having  graciously  granted  me 
permission  to  join  them  while  they  took  the  air, 
Mrs.  Gregory  must  surely  have  shocked  Mrs. 


HIGH   WALK   AND   THE   LADIES  139 

Weguelin  by  saying  to  me,  "  I  haven't  a  penny 
for  your  thoughts,  but  I'll  exchange." 

"  Would  you  thus  bargain  in  the  dark,  madam  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I'll  risk  that ;  and,  to  say  truth,  even  your 
back,  as  we  came  out  of  that  house,  was  a  back  of 
thought." 

u  Well,  I  confess  to  some  thinking.  Shall  I 
begin?" 

It  was  Mrs. Weguelin  who  quickly  replied,  smil 
ing  :  "  Ladies  first,  you  know.  At  least  we  still 
keep  it  so  in  Kings  Port." 

"  Would  we  did  everywhere  !  "  I  exclaimed  de 
voutly  ;  and  I  was  quite  aware  that  beneath  the 
little  lady's  gentle  smile  a  setting  down  had  lurked,, 
a  setting  down  of  the  most  delicate  nature,  ad 
ministered  to  me  not  in  the  least  because  I  had! 
deserved  one,  but  because  she  did  not  like  Mrs.. 
Gregory's    "downright"   tongue,  and   could    not. 
stop  her. 

Mrs.  Gregory  now  took  the  prerogative  of  ladies, . 
and  began.     "  I  was  thinking  of  what  we  had  all 
just  been  saying  during  our  visit  across  the  way 
—  and  with  which  you  are  not  going  to  agree  — 
that  our  young  people  would  do  much  better  to 
let  us  old  people  arrange  their  marriages  for  them,, 
as  it  is  done  in  Europe." 

"Odear!" 

"  I  said  that  you  would  not  agree ;  but  that  is 
because  you  are  so  young." 

"  I  don't  know  that  twenty-eight  is  so  young." 

"  You  will  know  it  when  you  are  seventy-three." 
This  observation  again  came  from  Mrs.  Weguelin 
St.  Michael,  and  again  with  a  gentle  and  attractive 
smile.  It  was  only  the  second  time  that  she  had 


140  LADY   BALTIMORE 

spoken ;  and  throughout  the  talk  into  which  we 
now  fell  as  we  slowly  walked  up  and  down  High 
Walk,  she  never  took  the  lead ;  she  left  that  to 
the  "  downright  "  tongue  —  but  I  noticed,  how 
ever,  that  she  chose  her  moments  to  follow  the 
lead  very  aptly.  I  also  perceived  plainly  that 
what  we  were  really  going  to  discuss  was  not  at 
all  the  European  principle  of  marriage-making, 
but  just  simply  young  John  and  his  Hortense ; 
they  were  the  true  kernel  of  the  nut  with  whose 
concealing  shell  Mrs.  Gregory  was  presenting  me, 
and  in  proposing  an  exchange  of  thoughts  she 
would  get  back  only  more  thoughts  upon  the  same 
subject.  It  was  pretty  evident  how  much  Kings 
Port  was  buzzing  over  all  this !  They  fondly 
believed  they  did  not  like  it ;  but  what  would  they 
have  done  without  it  ?  What,  indeed,  were  they 
going  to  do  when  it  was  all  over  and  done  with, 
one  way  or  another  ?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they 
ought  to  be  grateful  to  Hortense  for  contributing 
illustriously  to  the  excitement  of  their  lives. 

"  Of  course,  I  am  well  aware,"  Mrs.  Gregory 
pursued,  "  that  the  young  people  of  to-day  believe 
they  can  all  *  teach  their  grandmothers  to  suck 
eggs,'  as  we  say  in  Kings  Port" 

"  We  say  it  elsewhere,  too,"  I  mildly  put  in. 

"  Indeed  ?  I  didn't  know  that  the  North,  with 
its  pest  of  Hebrew  and  other  low  immigrants,  had 
retained  any  of  the  good  old  homely  saws  which 
we  brought  from  England.  But  do  you  imagine 
that  if  the  control  of  marriage  rested  in  the  hands 
of  parents  and  grandparents  (where  it  properly 
belongs),  you  would  be  witnessing  in  the  North 
this  disgusting  spectacle  of  divorce  ?  " 


HIGH   WALK   AND   THE    LADIES  141 

"  But,  Mrs.  St.  Michael  —  " 

"  We  didn't  invite  you  to  argue  when  we  invited 
you  to  walk !  "  cried  the  lady,  laughing. 

"  We  should  like  you  to  answer  the  question," 
said  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael. 

"  And  tell  us,"  Mrs.  Gregory  continued,  "  if  it's 
your  opinion  that  a  boy  who  has  never  been 
married  is  a  better  judge  of  matrimony's  pitfalls 
than  his  father." 

"Or  than  any  older  person  who  has  bravely 
and  worthily  gone  through  with  the  experience," 
Mrs.  Weguelin  added. 

"  Ladies,  I've  no  mind  to  argue.  But  we're 
ahead  of  Europe ;  we  don't  need  their  clumsy  old 
plan." 

Mrs.  Gregory  gave  a  gallant,  incredulous  snort. 
"  I  shall  be  interested  to  learn  of  anything  that  is 
done  better  here  than  in  Europe." 

"  Oh,  many  things,  surely  !  But  especially  the 
mating  of  the  fashionable  young.  They  don't 
need  any  parents  to  arrange  for  them ;  it's  much 
better  managed  through  precocity." 

"  Through  precocity  ?     I  scarcely  follow  you." 

And  Mrs.  Weguelin  softly  added,  "  You  must 
excuse  us  if  we  do  not  follow  you."  But  her 
softness  nevertheless  indicated  that  if  there  were 
any  one  present  needing  leniency,  it  was  myself. 

"Why,  yes,"  I  told  them,  "it's  through  pre 
cocity.  The  new-rich  American  no  longer  com 
mits  the  blunder  of  keeping  his  children  innocent. 
You'll  see  it  beginning  in  the  dancing-class,  where 
I  heard  an  exquisite  little  girl  of- six  say  to  a  little 
boy,  '  Go  away ;  I  can't  dance  with  you,  because 
my  mamma  says  your  mamma  only  keeps  a  maid 


142  LADY   BALTIMORE 

to  answer  the  doorbell.'  When  they  get  home 
from  the  dancing-class,  tutors  in  poker  and  bridge 
are  waiting  to  teach  them  how  to  gamble  for  each 
other's  little  dimes.  I  saw  a  little  boy  in  knicker 
bockers  and  a  wide  collar  throw  down  the  even 
ing  paper  —  " 

"  At  that  age  ?  They  read  the  papers  ?  "  in 
terrupted  Mrs.  Gregory. 

"  They  read  nothing  else  at  any  age.  He  threw 
it  down  and  said,  '  Well,  I  guess  there's  not  much 
behind  this  raid  on  Steel  Preferred.'  What  need 
has  such  a  boy  for  parents  or  grandparents? 
Presently  he  is  travelling  to  a  fashionable  board 
ing-school  in  his  father's  private  car.  At  college 
all  his  adolescent  curiosities  are  lavishly  gratified. 
His  sister  at  home  reads  the  French  romances, 
and  by  eighteen  she,  too,  knows  (in  her  head  at 
least)  the  whole  of  life,  so  that  she  can  be  per 
fectly  trusted ;  she  would  no  more  marry  a  mere 
half-millionnaire  just  because  she  loved  him  than 
she  would  appear  twice  in  the  same  ball-dress. 
She  and  her  ball-dresses  are  described  in  the 
papers  precisely  as  if  she  were  an  animal  at  a 
show — which  indeed  is  what  she  has  become; 
and  she's  eager  to  be  thus  described,  because  she 
and  her  mother  —  even  if  her  mother  was  once  a 
lady  and  knew  better  —  are  haunted  by  one  per 
petual,  sickening  fear,  the  fear  of  being  left  out ! 
And  if  you  desire  to  pay  correct  ballroom  com 
pliments,  you  no  longer  go  to  her  mother  and  tell 
her  she's  looking  every  bit  as  young  as  her 
daughter;  you  go  to  the  daughter  and  tell  her 
she's  looking  every  bit  as  old  as  her  mother,  for 
that's  what  she  wishes  to  do,  that's  what  she  tries 


HIGH   WALK  AND   THE   LADIES  143 

for,  what  she  talks,  dresses,  eats,  drinks,  goes  to 
indecent  plays  and  laughs  for.  Yes,  we  manage 
it  through  precocity,  and  the  new-rich  American 
parent  has  achieved  at  least  one  new  thing 
under  the  sun,  namely,  the  corruption  of  the 
child." 

My  ladies  silently  consulted  each  other's  ex 
pressions,  after  which,  in  equal  silence,  their  gaze 
returned  to  me  ;  but  their  equally  intent  scrutiny 
was  expressive  of  quite  different  things.  It  was 
with  expectancy  that  Mrs.  Gregory  looked  at  me 
— she  wanted  more.  Not  so  Mrs.  Weguelin ; 
she  gave  me  disapproval ;  it  was  shadowed  in 
her  beautiful,  lustrous  eyes  that  burned  dark  in 
her  white  face  with  as  much  fire  as  that  of  youth, 
yet  it  was  not  of  youth,  being  deeply  charged 
with  retrospection. 

In  what,  then,  had  I  sinned?  For  the  little 
lady's  next  words,  coldly  murmured,  increased  in 
me  an  uneasiness,  as  of  sin :  — 

"  You  have  told  us  much  that  we  are  not  ac 
customed  to  hear  in  Kings  Port." 

"  Oh,  I  haven't  begun  to  tell  you !  "  I  ex 
claimed  cheerily. 

"  You  certainly  have  not  told  us,"  said  Mrs. 
Gregory,  "  how  your  '  precocity '  escapes  this 
divorce  degradation." 

"  Escape  it  ?  Those  people  think  it  is  —  well, 
provincial  —  not  to  have  been  divorced  at  least 
once !  " 

Mrs.  Gregory  opened  her  eyes,  but  Mrs.  We 
guelin  shut  her  lips. 

I  continued :  "  Even  the  children,  for  their 
own  little  reasons,  like  it.  Only  last  summer,  in 


144  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Newport,  a  young  boy  was  asked  how  he  enjoyed 
having  a  father  and  an  ex-father." 

"  JEr-father  !  "  said  Mrs.  Gregory.  "  Fz^-father 
is  what  I  should  call  him." 

"  Maria !  "  murmured  Mrs.  Weguelin,  "  how  can 
you  jest  upon  such  topics  ?  " 

"  I  am  far  from  jesting,  Julia.  Well,  young 
gentleman,  and  what  answer  did  this  precious 
Newport  child  make  ?  " 

"  He  said  (if  you  will  pardon  my  giving  you  his 
little  sentiment  in  his  own  quite  expressive  idiom), 
4  Me  for  two  fathers !  Double  money  birthdays 
and  Christmases.  See  ?  '  That  was  how  he  saw 
divorce." 

Once  again  my  ladies  consulted  each  other's 
expressions;  we  moved  along  High  Walk  in  such 
silence  that  I  heard  the  stiff  little  rustle  which  the 
palmettos  were  making  across  the  street ;  even 
these  trees,  you  might  have  supposed,  were  whis 
pering  together  over  the  horrors  that  I  had  re 
cited  in  their  decorous  presence. 

It  was  Mrs.  Gregory  who  next  spoke.  "  I  can 
translate  that  last  boy's  language,  but  what  did  the 
other  boy  mean  about  a  '  raid  on  Steel  Preferred ' 
—  if  I've  got  the  jargon  right  ?  " 

While  I  translated  this  for  her,  I  felt  again  the 
disapproval  in  Mrs.  Weguelin's  dark  eyes ;  and 
my  sins  — for  they  were  twofold  —  were  presently 
made  clear  to  me  by  this  lady. 

"  Are  such  subjects  as  —  as  stocks  "  (she  softly 
cloaked  this  word  in  scorn  immeasurable)  —  "  are 
such  subjects  mentioned  in  your  good  society  at 
the  North  ?  " 

I  laughed  heartily.    "  Everything's  mentioned!" 


HIGH   WALK  AND   THE   LADIES  145 

The  lady  paused  over  my  reply.  "  I  am  afraid 
you  must  feel  us  to  be  very  old-fashioned  in 
Kings  Port,"  she  then  said. 

"  But  I  rejoice  in  it !  " 

She  ignored  my  not  wholly  dexterous  compli 
ment.  "  And  some  subjects,"  she  pursued,  "  seem 
to  us  so  grave  that  if  we  permit  ourselves  to 
speak  of  them  at  all  we  cannot  speak  of  them 
lightly." 

No,  they  couldn't  speak  of  them  lightly !  Here, 
then,  stood  my  two  sins  revealed  ;  everything  I 
had  imparted,  and  also  my  tone  of  imparting  it, 
had  displeased  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael,  not 
with  the  thing,  but  with  me.  I  had  transgressed 
her  sound  old  American  code  of  good  manners,  a. 
code  slightly  pompous  no  doubt,  but  one  in  which 
no  familiarity  was  allowed  to  breed  contempt.  To 
ner  good  taste,  there  were  things  in  the  world 
which  had,  apparently,  to  exist,  but  which  one 
banished  from  drawing-room  discussion  as  one 
conceals  from  sight  the  kitchen  and  outhouses ; 
one  dealt  with  them  only  when  necessity  com 
pelled,  and  never  in  small-talk ;  and  here  had  I 
been,  so  to  speak,  small-talking  them  in  that  glib, 
modern,  irresponsible  cadence  with  which  our 
brazen  age  rings  and  clatters  like  the  beating  of 
triangles  and  gongs.  Not  triangles  and  gongs,, 
but  rather  strings  and  flutes,  had  been  the  music 
to  which  Kings  Port  society  had  attuned  its 
measured  voice. 

I  saw  it  all,  and  even  saw  that  my  own  dramatic 
sense  of  Mrs.  Weguelin's  dignity  had  perversely 
moved  me  to  be  more  flippant  than  I  actually  felt ; 
and  I  promised  myself  that  a  more  chastened  tone 


146  LADY   BALTIMORE 

should  forthwith  redeem  me  from  the  false  posi 
tion  I  had  got  into. 

"  My  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Gregory  to  Mrs.  Wegue- 
lin,  "  we  must  ask  him  to  excuse  our  provin 
cialism." 

For  the  second  time  I  was  not  wholly  dexterous. 
"  But  I  like  it  so  much  !  "  I  exclaimed ;  and  both 
ladies  laughed  frankly. 

Mrs.  Gregory  brought  in  a  fable.  "  You'll  find 
us  all  '  country  mice'  here." 

This  time  I  was  happy.  "  At  least,  then,  there'll 
be  no  cat !  "  And  this  caused  us  all  to  make  little 
bows. 

But  the  word  "  cat "  fell  into  our  talk  as  does  a 
drop  of  some  acid  into  a  chemical  solution,  in 
stantly  changing  the  whole  to  an  unexpected  new 
color.  The  unexpected  new  color  was,  in  this 
instance,  merely  what  had  been  latently  lurking 
in  the  fluid  of  our  consciousness  all  through ; 
and  now  it  suddenly  came  out. 

Mrs.  Gregory  stared  over  the  parapet  at  the 
harbor.  "  I  wonder  if  anybody  has  visited  that 
steam  yacht  ? " 

"  The  Hermana  ?  "  I  said.  "  She's  waiting,  I 
believe,  for  her  owner,  who  is  enjoying  himself 
very  much  on  land."  It  was  a  strong  temptation 
to  add,  "  enjoying  himself  with  the  cat,"  but  I 
resisted  it. 

"  Oh  ! "  said  Mrs.  Gregory.  "  Possibly  a  friend 
of  yours  ?  " 

"  Even  his  name  is  unknown  to  me.  But  I 
gather  that  he  may  be  coming  to  Kings  Port  — 
to  attend  Mr.  John  Mayrant's  wedding  next 
Wednesday  week." 


HIGH   WALK   AND  THE   LADIES  147 

I  hadn't  gathered  this;  but  one  is  at  times 
driven  to  improvising.  I  wished  so  much  to 
know  if  Juno  was  right  about  the  engagement 
being  broken,  and  I  looked  hard  at  the  ladies  as 
my  words  fairly  grazed  the  "cat."  This  time  I 
expected  them  to  consult  each  other's  expressions, 
and  such,  indeed,  was  their  immediate  proceed 
ing. 

"  The  Wednesday  following,  you  mean,"  Mrs. 
Weguelin  corrected. 

"  Postponed  again  ?     Dear  me  !  " 

Mrs.  Gregory  spoke  this  time.  "  General 
Rieppe.  Less  well  again,  it  seems." 

It  would  be  like  Juno  to  magnify  a  delay  into  a 
rupture.  Then  I  had  a  hilarious  thought,  which 
I  instantly  put  to  the  ladies.  "  If  the  poor  Gen 
eral  were  to  die  completely,  would  the  wedding 
be  postponed  completely  ?  " 

"  There  would  not  be  the  slightest  chance  of 
that''  Mrs.  Gregory  declared.  And  then  she 
pronounced  a  sentence  that  was  truly  oracular: 
"  She's  coming  at  once  to  see  for  herself." 

To  which  Mrs.  Weguelin  added  with  deeper 
condemnation  than  she  had  so  far  employed  at 
all :  "  There  is  a  rumor  that  she  is  actually  com 
ing  in  an  automobile." 

My  silence  upon  these  two  remarks  was  the 
silence  of  great  and  sudden  interest ;  but  it  led 
Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael  to  do  my  perceptions 
a  slight  injustice,  and  she  had  no  intention  that  I 
should  miss  the  quality  of  her  opinion  regarding 
the  vehicle  in  which  Hortense  was  reported  to 
be  travelling. 

"  Miss  Rieppe   has  the  extraordinary  taste  to 


148  LADY   BALTIMORE 

come  here  in  an  automobile,"  said  Mrs.  Weguelin 
St.  Michael,  with  deepened  seventy. 

Though  I  understood  quite  well,  without  this 
emphasizing,  that  the  little  lady  would,  with  her 
unbending  traditions,  probably  think  it  more  re 
spectable  to  approach  Kings  Port  in  a  wheel 
barrow,  I  was  absorbed  by  the  vague  but  copious 
import  of  Mrs.  Gregory's  announcement.  The 
oracles,  moreover,  continued. 

"  But  she  is  undoubtedly  very  clever  to  come 
and  see  for  herself,"  was  Mrs.  Weguelin's  next 
comment. 

Mrs.  Gregory's  face,  as  she  replied  to  her  com 
panion,  took  on  a  censorious  and  superior  expres 
sion.  "  You'll  remember,  Julia,  that  I  told 
Josephine  St.  Michael  it  was  what  they  had  to 
expect." 

"  But  it  was  not  Josephine,  my  dear,  who  at  any 
time  approved  of  taking  such  a  course.  It  was 
Eliza's  whole  doing." 

It  was  fairly  raining  oracles  round  me,  and  they 
quite  resembled,  for  all  the  help  and  light  they 
contained,  their  Delphic  predecessors. 

"  And  yet  Eliza,"  said  Mrs.  Gregory,  "  in  the 
face  of  it,  this  very  morning,  repeated  her  eternal 
assertion  that  we  shall  all  see  the  marriage  will 
not  take  place." 

"  Eliza,"  murmured  Mrs.  Weguelin,  "  rates  few 
things  more  highly  than  her  own  judgment." 

Mrs.  Gregory  mused.  "  Yet  she  is  often  right 
when  she  has  no  right  to  be  right." 

I  could  not  bear  it  any  longer,  and  I  said,  "  I 
heard  to-day  that  Miss  Rieppe  had  broken  her 
engagement." 


HIGH   WALK  AND   THE    LADIES  149 

"  And  where  did  you  hear  that  nonsense  ? " 
asked  Mrs.  Gregory. 

My  heart  leaped,  and  I  told  her  where. 

"  Oh,  well !  you  will  hear  anything  in  a  board 
ing-house.  Indeed,  that  would  be  a  great  deal  too 
good  to  be  true." 

"  May  I  ask  where  Miss  Rieppe  is  all  this 
while  ?  " 

"  The  last  news  was  from  Palm  Beach,  where 
the  air  was  said  to  be  necessary  for  the  General." 

"  But,"  Mrs.  Weguelin  repeated,  "  we  have 
every  reason  to  believe  that  she  is  coming  here 
in  an  automobile." 

"  We  shall  have  to  call,  of  course,"  added  Mrs. 
Gregory  to  her,  not  to  me ;  they  were  leaving  me 
out  of  it.  Yes,  these  ladies  were  forgetting  about 
me  in  their  rising  preoccupation  over  whatever 
crisis  it  was  that  now  hung  over  John  Mayrant's 
love  affairs  —  a  preoccupation  which  was  evidently 
part  of  Kings  Port's  universal  buzz  to-day,  and 
which  my  joining  them  in  the  street  had  merely 
mitigated  for  a  moment.  I  did  not  wish  to  be 
left  out  of  it;  I  cannot  tell  you  why  —  perhaps  it 
was  contagious  in  the  local  air — but  a  veritable 
madness  of  craving  to  know  about  it  seized  upon 
me.  Of  course,  I  saw  that  Miss  Rieppe  was, 
almost  too  grossly  and  obviously,  "playing  for 
time " ;  the  health  of  people's  fathers  did  not 
cause  weekly  extensions  of  this  sort.  But  what 
was  it  that  the  young  lady  expected  time  to  effect 
for  her?  Her  release,  formally,  by  her  young 
man,  on  the  ground  of  his  worldly  ill  fortune  ? 
Or  was  it  for  an  offer  from  the  owner  of  the 
Hermana  that  she  was  waiting,  before  she  should 


150  LADY   BALTIMORE 

take  the  step  of  formally  releasing  John  Mayrant  ? 
No,  neither  of  these  conjectures  seemed  to  furnish 
a  key  to  the  tactics  of  Miss  Rieppe  ;  and  the 
theory  that  each  of  these  affianced  parties  was 
strategizing  to  cause  the  other  to  assume  the 
odium  of  breaking  their  engagement,  with  no 
result  save  that  of  repeatedly  countermanding  a 
wedding-cake,  struck  me  as  belonging  admirably 
to  a  stage-comedy  in  three  acts,  but  scarcely  to 
life  as  we  find  it.  Besides,  poor  John  Mayrant 
was,  all  too  plainly,  not  strategizing ;  he  was  play 
ing  as  straight  a  game  as  the  honest  heart  of  a 
gentleman  could  inspire.  And  so,  baffled  at  all 
points,  I  said  (for  I  simply  had  to  try  something 
which  might  lead  to  my  sharing  in  Kings  Port's 
vibrating  secret) :  — 

"  I  can't  make  out  whether  she  wants  to  marry 
him  or  not." 

Mrs.  Gregory  answered.  "That  is  just  what 
she  is  coming  to  see  for  herself." 

"  But  since  her  love  was  for  his  phosphates 
only  —  !  "  was  my  natural  exclamation. 

It  caused  (and  this  time  I  did  not  expect  it)  my 
inveterate  ladies  to  consult  each  other's  expres 
sions.  They  prolonged  their  silence  so  much 
that  I  spoke  again  :  — 

"And  backing  out  of  this  sort  of  thing  can  be 
done,  I  should  think,  quite  as  cleverly,  and  much 
more  simply,  from  a  distance." 

It  was  Mrs.  Weguelin  who  answered  now,  or, 
rather,  who  headed  me  off.  "  Have  you  been 
able  to  make  out  whether  he  wants  to  marry  her 
or  not  ? " 

"  Oh,  he  never  comes  near  any  of  that  with 
me 


I  " 


HIGH  WALK  AND   THE   LADIES  151 

"  Certainly  not.  But  we  all  understand  that  he 
has  taken  a  fancy  to  you,  and  that  you  have 
talked  much  with  him." 

So  they  all  understood  this,  did  they  ?  This, 
too,  had  played  its  little  special  part  in  the  buzz  ? 
Very  well,  then,  nothing  of  my  private  impressions 
should  drop  from  my  lips  here,  to  be  quoted  and 
misquoted  and  battledored  and  shuttlecocked, 
until  it  reached  the  boy  himself  (as  it  would  in 
evitably)  in  fantastic  disarrangement.  I  laughed. 
"  Oh,  yes !  I  have  talked  much  with  him.  Shake 
speare,  I  think,  was  our  latest  subject." 

Mrs.  Weguelin  was  plainly  watching  for  some 
thing  to  drop.  "  Shakespeare  !  "  Her  tone  was 
of  surprise. 

I  then  indulged  myself  in  that  most  delightful 
sort  of  impertinence,  which  consists  in  the  other 
person's  not  seeing  it.  "  You  wouldn't  be  likely 
to  have  heard  of  that  yet.  It  occurred  only  be 
fore  dinner  to-day.  But  we  have  also  talked 
optimism,  pessimism,  sociology,  evolution  —  Mr. 
Mayrant  would  soon  become  quite  — "  I  stopped 
myself  on  the  edge  of  something  very  clumsy. 

But  sharp  Mrs.  Gregory  finished  for  me.  "  Yes, 
you  mean  that  if  he  didn't  live  in  Kings  Port 
(where  we  still  have  reverence,  at  any  rate),  he 
would  imbibe  all  the  shallow  quackeries  of  the 
hour  and  resemble  all  the  clever  young  donkeys 
of  the  minute." 

"  Maria  !  "  Mrs.  Weguelin  murmurously  expos 
tulated. 

Mrs.  Gregory  immediately  made  me  a  hand 
some  but  equivocal  apology.  "  I  wasn't  thinking 
of  you  at  all !  "  she  declared  gayly ;  and  it  set  me 


152  LADY   BALTIMORE 

doubting  if  perhaps  she  hadn't,  after  all,  compre 
hended  my  impertinence.  "  And,  thank  Heaven !  " 
she  continued,  "  John  is  one  of  us,  in  spite  of  his 
present  stubborn  course." 

But  Mrs.  Weguelin's  beautiful  eyes  were  rest 
ing  upon  me  with  that  disapproval  I  had  come 
to  know.  To  her,  sociology  and  evolution  and 
all  the  "  isms  "  were  new-fangled  inventions  and 
murky  with  offence ;  to  touch  them  was  defile 
ment,  and  in  disclosing  them  to  John  Mayrant  I 
was  a  corrupter  of  youth.  She  gathered  it  all  up 
into  a  word  that  was  radiant  with  a  kind  of  lovely 
maternal  gentleness :  — 

"  We  should  not  wish  John  to  become  radical." 

In  her  voice,  the  whole  of  old  Kings  Port  was 
enshrined :  hereditary  faith  and  hereditary  stand 
ards,  mellow  with  the  adherence  of  generations 
past,  and  solicitous  for  the  boy  of  the  young  gen 
eration.  I  saw  her  eyes  soften  at  the  thought  of 
him ;  and  throughout  the  rest  of  our  talk  to  its 
end  her  gaze  would  now  and  then  return  to  me, 
shadowed  with  disapproval. 

I  addressed  Mrs.  Gregory.  "  By  his  '  present 
stubborn  course '  I  suppose  you  mean  the  Custom 
House." 

"  All  of  us  deplore  his  obstinacy.  His  Aunt 
Eliza  has  strongly  but  vainly  expostulated  with 
him.  And  after  that,  Miss  Josephine  felt  obliged 
to  tell  him  that  he  need  not  come  to  see  her  again 
until  he  resigned  a  position  which  reflects 
ignominy  upon  us  all." 

I  suppressed  a  whistle.  I  thought  (as  I  have 
said  earlier)  that  I  had  caught  a  full  vision  of 
John  Mayrant's  present  plight.  But  my  imagi- 


HIGH   WALK   AND   THE   LADIES  153 

nation  had  not  soared  to  the  height  of  Miss 
Josephine  St.  Michael's  act  of  discipline.  This, 
it  must  have  been,  that  the  boy  had  checked  him 
self  from  telling  me  in  the  churchyard.  What  a 
character  of  sterner  times  was  Miss  Josephine ! 
I  thought  of  Aunt  Carola,  but  even  she  was  not 
quite  of  this  iron,  and  I  said  so  to  Mrs.  Gregory. 
u  I  doubt  if  there  be  any  old  lady  left  in  the 
North,"  I  said,  "  capable  of  such  antique  severity." 

But  Mrs.  Gregory  opened  my  eyes  still  further. 
"Oh,  you'd  have  them  if  you  had  the  negro  to 
deal  with  as  we  have  him.  Miss  Josephine,"  she 
added,  "  has  to-day  removed  her  sentence  of 
banishment." 

I  felt  on  the  verge  of  new  discoveries.  "  What !  " 
I  exclaimed,  "  and  did  she  relent  ?  " 

"  New  circumstances  intervened,"  Mrs.  Gregory 
loftily  explained.  "  There  was  an  occurrence  — 
an  encounter,  in  fact  —  in  which  John  Mayrant 
fittingly  punished  one  who  had  presumed.  Upon 
hearing  of  it,  this  morning,  Miss  Josephine  sent 
a  message  to  John  that  he  might  resume  visiting 
her." 

"  But  that  is  perfectly  grand  ! "  I  cried  in  my 
delight  over  Miss  Josephine  as  a  character. 

"  It  is  perfectly  natural,"  returned  Mrs.  Gregory, 
quietly.  "  John  has  behaved  with  credit  through 
out.  He  was  at  length  made  to  see  that  circum 
stances  forbade  any  breach  between  his  family 
and  that  of  the  other  young  man.  John  held  back 
—  who  would  not,  after  such  an  insult? — but 
Miss  Josephine  was  firm,  and  he-has  promised  to 
call  and  shake  hands.  My  cousin,  Doctor  Beau- 
gar9on,  assures  me  that  the  young  man's  injuries 


154  LADY   BALTIMORE 

are  trifling  —  a  week  will  see  him  restored  and 
presentable  again." 

"  A  week  ?  A  mere  nothing  !  "  I  answered. 
"  Do  you  know,"  I  now  suggested,  "that  you  have 
forgotten  to  ask  me  what  I  was  thinking  about 
when  we  met  ?  " 

"  Bless  me,  young  gentleman !  and  was  it  so 
remarkable  ? " 

"  Not  at  all,  but  it  partly  answers  what  Mrs. 
Weguelin  St.  Michael  asked  me.  If  a  young  man 
does  not  really  wish  to  marry  a  young  woman, 
there  are  ways  well  known  by  which  she  can  be 
brought  to  break  the  engagement." 

"  Ah,"  said  Mrs.  Gregory,  "  of  course  ;  gayeties 
and  irregularities  —  " 

"  That  is,  if  he's  not  above  them,"  I  hastily 
subjoined. 

"  Not  always,  by  any  means,"  Mrs.  Gregory 
returned.  "  Kings  Port  has  been  treated  to  some 
episodes  —  " 

Mrs.  Weguelin  put  in  a  word  of  defence.  "  It 
is  to  be  said,  Maria,  that  John's  irregularities  have 
invariably  been  conducted  with  perfect  propri- 
ety." 

"  Oh,"  said  Mrs.  Gregory,  "  no  Mayrant  was 
ever  known  to  be  gross  !  " 

"  But  this  particular  young  lady,"  said  Mrs. 
Weguelin,  "  would  not  be  estranged  by  any 
masculine  irregularities  and  gayeties.  Not  by 
any." 

"  How  about  infidelities  ?  "  I  suggested.  "  If 
he  should  flagrantly  lose  his  heart  to  another?" 

Mrs.  Weguelin  replied  quickly.  "  That  answers 
very  well  where  hearts  are  in  question." 


HIGH   WALK   AND   THE    LADIES  155 

"  But,"  said  I,  "  since  phosphates  are  no 
longer  —  ?" 

There  was  a  pause.  "  It  would  be  a  new 
dilemma,"  Mrs.  Gregory  then  said  slowly,  "  if  she 
turned  out  to  care  for  him,  after  all." 

Throughout  all  this  I  was  getting  more  and 
more  the  sense  of  how  a  total  circle  of  people,  a 
well-filled,  wide  circle  of  interested  people,  sur 
rounded  and  cherished  John  Mayrant,  made  itself 
the  setting  of  which  he  was  the  jewel ;  I  felt  in  it, 
even  stronger  than  the  manifestation  of  personal 
affection  (which  certainly  was  strong  enough),  a 
collective  sense  of  possession  in  him,  a  clan  value, 
a  pride  and  a  guardianship  concentrated  and 
jealous,  as  of  an  heir  to  some  princely  estate,  who 
must  be  worthy  for  the  sake  of  a  community  even 
before  he  was  worthy  for  his  own  sake.  Thus  he 
might  amuse  himself  —  it  was  in  the  code  that 
princely  heirs  so  should  do,  pour  se  deniaiser,  as 
they  neatly  put  it  in.  Paris  —  thus  might  he  and 
must  he  fight  when  his  dignity  was  assailed ;  but 
thus  might  he  not  marry  outside  certain  lines 
prescribed,  or  depart  from  his  circle's  established 
creeds,  divine  and  social,  especially  to  hold  any 
position  which  (to  borrow  Mrs.  Gregory's  phrase) 
"  reflected  ignominy  "  upon  them  all.  When  he 
transgressed,  their  very  value  for  him  turned  them 
bitter  against  him.  I  know  that  all  of  us  are 
more  or  less  chained  to  our  community,  which  is 
pleased  to  expect  us  to  walk  its  way,  and  mightily 
displeased  when  we  please  ourselves  instead  by 
breaking  the  chain  and  walking  our  own  way; 
and  I  know  that  we  are  forgiven  very  slowly ;  but 
I  had  not  dreamed  what  a  prisoner  to  communal 


156  LADY  BALTIMORE 

criticism  a  young  American  could  be  until  I 
beheld  Kings  Port  over  John  Mayrant. 

And  to  what  estate  was  this  prince  heir  ?  Alas, 
his  inheritance  was  all  of  it  the  Past  and  none  of 
it  the  Future;  was  the  full  churchyard  and  the 
empty  wharves !  He  was  paying  dear  for  his 
princedom !  And  then,  there  was  yet  another 
sense  of  this  beautiful  town  that  I  got  here 
completely,  suddenly  crystallized,  though  slowly 
gathering  ever  since  my  arrival :  all  these  old 
people  were  clustered  about  one  young  one. 
That  was  it ;  that  was  the  town's  ultimate  tragic 
note:  the  old  timber  of  the  forest  dying  and  the 
too  sparse  new  growth  appearing  scantily  amid 
the  tall,  fine,  venerable,  decaying  trunks.  It  had 
been  by  no  razing  to  the  ground  and  sowing  with 
salt  that  the  city  had  perished ;  a  process  less 
violent  but  more  sad  had  done  away  with  it. 
Youth,  in  the  wake  of  commerce,  had  ebbed  from 
Kings  Port,  had  flowed  out  from  the  silent,  mourn 
ing  houses,  and  sought  life  North  and  West,  and 
wherever  else  life  was  to  be  found.  Into  my 
revery  floated  a  phrase  from  a  melodious  and 
once  favorite  song :  O  tempo  passato  perctie  non 
ritorni  ? 

And  John  Mayrant?  Why,  then,  had  he 
tarried  here  himself?  That  is  a  hard  saying 
about  crabbed  age  and  youth,  but  are  not  most 
of  the  sayings  hard  that  are  true  ?  What  was  this 
young  man  doing  in  Kings  Port  with  his  brains, 
and  his  pride,  and  his  energetic  adolescence  ?  If 
the  Custom  House  galled  him,  the  whole  country 
was  open  to  him ;  why  not  have  tried  his  fortune 
out  and  away,  over  the  hills,  where  the  new  cities 


HIGH    WALK  AND   THE   LADIES  157 

lie,  all  full  of  future  and  empty  of  past  ?  Was  it 
much  to  the  credit  of  such  a  young  man  to  find 
himself  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  or  twenty-four, 
sound  and  lithe  of  limb,  yet  tied  to  the  apron 
strings  of  Miss  Josephine,  and  Miss  Eliza,  and 
some  thirty  or  forty  other  elderly  female  relatives? 
With  these  thoughts  I  looked  at  the  ladies  and 
wondered  how  I  might  lead  them  to  answer  me 
about  John  Mayrant,  without  asking  questions 
which  might  imply  something  derogatory  to  him  or 
painful  to  them.  I  could  not  ever  say  to  them  a 
word  which  might  mean,  however  indirectly,  that 
I  thought  their  beautiful,  cherished  town  no 
place  for  a  young  man  to  go  to  seed  in ;  this  cut 
so  close  to  the  quick  of  truth  that  discourse  must 
keep  wide  away  from  it.  What,  then,  could  I  ask 
them  ?  As  I  pondered,  Mrs.  Weguelin  solved  it 
for  me  by  what  she  was  saying  to  Mrs.  Gregory, 
of  which,  in  my  preoccupation,  I  had  evidently 
missed  a  part :  — 

"  —  if  he  should  share  the  family  bad  taste 
in  wives." 

"  Eliza  says  she  has  no  fear  of  that." 
"  Were    I    Eliza,    Hugh's   performance  would 
make  me  very  uneasy." 

"  Julia,  John  does  not  resemble  Hugh." 
"  Very  decidedly,  in  coloring,  Maria." 
"And   Hugh  found   that  girl   in   Minneapolis, 
Julia,  where  there  was  doubtless  no  pick  for  the 
poor  fellow.     And  remember  that  George  chose 
a  lady,  at  any  rate." 

Mrs.  Weguelin  gave  to  this  a  short  assent. 
"  Yes."  It  portended  something  more  behind, 
which  her  next  words  duly  revealed.  "  A  lady ; 


158  LADY   BALTIMORE 

but  do  —  any — ladies  ever  seem  quite  like  our 
own  ?  " 

"  Certainly  not,  Julia." 

You  see,  they  were  forgetting  me  again ;  but 
they  had  furnished  me  with  a  clue. 

"  Mr.  John  Mayrant  has  married  brothers  ?  " 

"  Two,"  Mrs.  Gregory  responded.  "  John  is 
the  youngest  of  three  children." 

"  I  hadn't  heard  of  the  brothers  before." 

"  They  seldom  come  here.  They  saw  fit  to 
-leave  their  home  and  their  delicate  mother." 

"  Oh !  " 

*"  But  John,"  said  Mrs.  Gregory,  "  met  his 
'responsibility  like  a  Mayrant." 

"  Whatever  temptations  he  has  yielded  to," 
said  Mrs.  Weguelin,  "  his  filial  piety  has  stood 
proof." 

"  He  refused,"  added  Mrs.  Gregory,  "  when 
George  (and  I  have  never  understood  how  George 
could  be  so  forgetful  of  their  mother)  wrote  twice, 
offering  him  a  lucrative  and  rising  position  in  the 
railroad  company  at  Roanoke." 

"  That  was  hard  !  "  I  exclaimed. 

She  totally  misapplied  my  sympathy.  "  Oh, 
Anna  Mayrant,"  she  corrected  herself,  "John's 
mother,  Mrs.  Hector  Mayrant,  had  harder  things 
than  forgetful  sons  to  bear  !  I've  not  laid  eyes  on 
those  boys  since  the  funeral." 

"  Nearly  two  years,"  murmured  Mrs.  Weguelin. 
And  then,  to  me,  with  something  that  was  almost 
like  a  strange  severity  beneath  her  gentle  tone : 
"  Therefore  we  are  proud  of  John,  because  the 
better  traits  in  his  nature  remind  us  of  his  fore 
fathers,  whom  we  knew." 


HIGH   WALK   AND   THE   LADIES  159 

"  In  Kings  Port,"  said  Mrs.  Gregory,  "  we  prize 
those  who  ring  true  to  the  blood." 

By  way  of  response  to  this  sentiment,  I  quoted 
some  French  to  her.  "  Bon  chien  chasse  de  race'" 

It  pleased  Mrs.  Weguelin.  Her  guarded  at 
titude  toward  me  relented.  "  John  mentioned 
your  cultivation  to  us,"  she  said.  "  In  these 
tumble-down  days  it  is  rare  to  meet  with  one  who 
still  lives,  mentally,  on  the  gentlefolks'  plane  — 
ft\t piano  nobile  of  intelligence!  " 

I  realized  how  high  a  compliment  she  was  pay 
ing  me,  and  I  repaid  it  with  a  joke.  "  Take  care ! 
Those  who  don't  live  there  would  call  it  the 
piano  snob  lie" 

"  Ah  !  "  cried  the  delighted  lady,  "  they'd  never 
have  the  wit !  " 

"  Did  you  ever  hear,"  I  continued,  "  the  Bosto- 
nian's  remark  —  'The  mission  of  America  is  to 
vulgarize  the  world  '  ?  " 

"  I  never  expected  to  agree  so  totally  with  a  Bos- 
tonian  !  "  declared  Mrs.  Gregory. 

"  Nothing  so  hopeful,"  I  pursued,  "  has  ever 
been  said  of  us.  For  refinement  and  thorough 
ness  and  tradition  delay  progress,  and  we  are 
sweeping  them  out  of  the  road  as  fast  as  we  can." 

"  Come  away,  Julia,"  said  Mrs.  Gregory.  "  The 
young  gentleman  is  getting  flippant  again,  and  we 
leave  him." 

The  ladies,  after  gracious  expressions  concern 
ing  the  pleasure  of  their  stroll,  descended  the 
steps  at  the  north  end  of  High  Walk,  where  the 
parapet  stops,  and  turned  inland  from  the  water 
through  a  little  street.  I  watched  them  until  they 
went  out  of  my  sight  round  a  corner;  but  the 


i6o 


LADY   BALTIMORE 


two  silent,  leisurely  figures,  moving  in  their  black 
and  their  veils  along  an  empty  highway,  come 
back  to  me  often  in  the  pictures  of  my  thoughts ; 
come  back  most  often,  indeed,  as  the  human  part 


Leafy  enclosures  dipping  below  sight  among  quaint  and  huddled 
quadrangles 

of  what  my  memory  sees  when  it  turns  to  look  at 
Kings  Port.  For,  first,  it  sees  the  blue  frame  of 
quiet  sunny  water,  and  the  white  town  within  its 
frame  beneath  the  clear,  untainted  air;  and  then 


HIGH   WALK  AND   THE   LADIES  161 

it  sees  the  high-slanted  roofs,  red  with  their  old 
corrugated  tiles,  and  the  tops  of  leafy  enclosures 
dipping  below  sight  among  quaint  and  huddled 
quadrangles  ;  and,  next,  the  quiet  houses  standing 
in  their  separate  grounds,  their  narrow  ends  to  the 
street  and  their  long,  two-storied  galleries  open  to 
the  south,  but  their  hushed  windows  closed  as  if 
against  the  prying,  restless  Present  that  must  not 
look  in  and  disturb  the  motionless  memories  which 
sit  brooding  behind  these  shutters ;  and  between 
all  these  silent  mansions  lie  the  narrow  streets, 
the  quiet,  empty  streets,  along  which,  as  my 
memory  watches  them,  pass  the  two  ladies  silently, 
in  their  black  and  their  veils,  moving  between 
high,  mellow-colored  garden  walls  over  whose 
tops  look  the  oleanders,  the  climbing  roses,  and 
all  the  taller  flowers  of  the  gardens. 

And  if  Mrs.  Gregory  and  Mrs.  Weguelin 
seemed  to  me  at  moments  as  narrow  as  those 
streets,  they  also  seemed  to  me  as  lovely  as  those 
serene  gardens ;  and  if  I  had  smiled  at  their  prej 
udices,  I  had  loved  their  innocence,  their  deep 
innocence,  of  the  poisoned  age  which  has  suc 
ceeded  their  own ;  and  if  I  had  wondered  this  day 
at  their  powers  for  cruelty,  I  wondered  the  next 
day  at  the  glimpse  I  had  of  their  kindness.  For 
during  a  pelting  cold  rainstorm,  as  I  sat  and 
shivered  in  a  Royal  Street  car,  waiting  for  it  to 
start  nipon  its  north-bound  course,  the  house-door 
opposite  which  we  stood  at  the  end  of  the  track 
opened,  and  Mrs.  Weguelin's  head  appeared, 
nodding  to  the  conductor  as  she  sent  her  black 
servant  out  with  hot  coffee  for  him !  He  took 
off  his  hat,  and  smiled,  and  thanked  her;  and 


M 


162  LADY   BALTIMORE 

when  we  had  started  and  I,  the  sole  passenger  in 
the  chilly  car,  asked  him  about  this,  he  said  with 
native  pride:  "The  ladies  always  watches  out  for 
us  conductors  in  stormy  weather,  sir.  That's 
Mistress  Weguelin  St.  Michael,  one  of  our  finest." 
And  then  he  gave  me  careful  directions  how  to 
find  a  shop  that  I  was  seeking. 

Think  of  this  happening  in  New  York  !  Think 
of  the  aristocracy  of  that  metropolis  warming  up 
with  coffee  the  —  but  why  think  of  it,  or  of  a 
New  York  conductor  answering  your  questions 
with  careful  directions!  It  is  not  New  York's 
fault,  it  is  merely  New  York's  misfortune :  New 
York  is  in  a  hurry ;  and  a  world  of  haste  cannot 
be  a  world  either  of  courtesy  or  of  kindness.  But 
we  have  progress,  progress,  instead  ;  and  that  is 
a  tremendous  consolation. 


XI 

DADDY    BEN    AND    HIS    SEED 

"DUT   what  was   Hortense    Rieppe  coming   to 

see  for  herself  ? 

Many  dark  things  had  been  made  plain  to  me 
by  my  talk  with  the  two  ladies ;  yet  while  disclos 
ing  so  much,  they  had  still  left  this  important 
matter  in  shadow.  I  was  very  glad,  however,  for 
what  they  had  revealed.  They  had  showed  me 
more  of  John  May  rant's  character,  and  more  also 
of  the  destiny  which  had  shaped  his  ends,  so  that 
my  esteem  for  him  had  increased ;  for  some  of 
the  words  that  they  had  exchanged  shone  like 
bright  lanterns  down  into  his  nature  upon  strength 
and  beauty  lying  quietly  there,  —  young  strength 
and  beauty,  yet  already  tempered  by  manly  sacri 
fice.  I  saw  how  it  came  to  pass  through  this, 
through  renunciation  of  his  own  desires,  through 
performance  of  duties  which  had  fallen  upon  him 
not  quite  fairly,  that  the  eye  of  his  spirit  had  been 
turned  away  from  self ;  thus  had  it  grown  strong- 
sighted  and  able  to  look  far  and  deep,  as  his 
speech  sometimes  revealed,  while  still  his  flesh 
was  of  his  youthful  age,  and  no  saint's  flesh  either. 
This  had  the  ladies  taught  me  during  the  flut 
tered  interchange  of  their  reminders  and  opinions, 
and  by  their  eager  agreements  and  disagreements, 
I  was  also  grateful  to  them  in  that  I  could  once 

163 


1 64  LADY   BALTIMORE 

more  correct  Juno.  The  pleasure  should  be  mine 
to  tell  them  in  the  public  hearing  of  our  table 
that  Miss  Rieppe  was  still  engaged  to  John  May- 
rant. 

But  what  was  this  interesting  girl  coming  to  see 
for  herself? 

This  little  hole  in  my  knowledge  gave  me  dis 
comfort  as  I  walked  along  toward  the  antiquity 
shop  where  I  was  to  buy  the  other  kettle-sup 
porter.  The  ladies,  with  all  their  freedom  of 
comment  and  censure,  had  kept  something  from 
me.  I  reviewed,  I  pieced  together,  their  various 
remarks,  those  oracles,  especially,  which  they  had 
let  fall,  but  it  all  came  back  to  the  same  thing : 
I  did  not  know,  and  they  did,  what  Hortense 
Rieppe  was  coming  to  see  for  herself.  At  all 
events,  the  engagement  was  not  broken,  the 
chance  to  be  instrumental  in  having  it  broken 
was  still  mine;  I  might  still  save  John  Mayrant 
from  his  deplorable  quixotism ;  and  as  this  reflec 
tion  grew  with  me  I  took  increasing  comfort  in 
it,  and  I  stepped  onward  toward  my  kettle-sup 
porter,  filled  with  that  sense  of  moral  well-being 
which  will  steal  over  even  the  humblest  of  us 
when  we  feel  that  we  are  beneficently  minding 
somebody  else's  business. 

Whenever  the  arrangement  did  not  take  me 
too  widely  from  my  course,  I  so  mapped  out  my 
walks  and  errands  in  Kings  Port  that  I  might 
pass  by  the  churchyard  and  church  at  the  corner 
of  Court  and  Worship  streets.  Even  if  I  did  not 
indulge  myself  by  turning  in  to  stroll  and  loiter 
among  the  flowers,  it  was  enough  pleasure  to 
walk  by  that  brick-wall.  If  you  are  willing  to 


DADDY   BEN   AND   HIS   SEED  165 

wander  curiously  in  our  old  towns,  you  may  still 
find  in  many  of  them  good  brick  walls  standing 
undisturbed,  and  equal  in  their  color  and  simple 
excellence  to  those  of  Kings  Port ;  but  fashion 
has  pushed  these  others  out  of  its  sight,  among 
back  streets  and  all  sorts  of  forgotten  purlieus 
and  abandoned  dignity,  and  takes  its  walks  to-day 
amid  cold,  expensive  ugliness ;  while  the  old  brick 
walls  of  Kings  Port  continually  frame  your  steps 
with  charm.  No  one  workman  famous  for  his 
skill  built  them  so  well  proportioned,  so  true  to 
comeliness ;  it  was  the  general  hand  of  their  age 
that  could  shape  nothing  wrong,  as  the  hand  of 
to-day  can  shape  nothing  right,  save  by  a  rigid 
following  of  the  old. 

I  gave  myself  the  pleasure  this  afternoon  of 
walking  by  the  churchyard  wall  ;  and  when  I 
reached  the  iron  gate,  there  was  Daddy  Ben.  So 
full  was  I  of  my  thoughts  concerning  John  May- 
rant,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  his  heart,  and  the 
Custom  House,  that  I  was  moved  to  have  words 
with  the  old  man  upon  the  general  topic. 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  and  so  Mr.  John  is  going  to 
be  married." 

No  attempt  to  start  a  chat  ever  failed  more 
signally.  He  assented  with  a  manner  of  mingled 
civility  and  reserve  that  was  perfection,  and  after 
the  two  syllables  of  which  his  answer  consisted, 
he  remained  as  impenetrably  respectful  as  before. 
I  felt  rather  high  and  dry,  but  I  tried  it  again  :  — 

"  And  I'm  sure,  Daddy  Ben,  that  you  feel  as 
sorry  as  any  of  the  family  that  the  phosphates 
failed." 

Again    he   replied    with    his    tvvo    syllables    of 


1 66  LADY   BALTIMORE 

assent,  and  again  he  stood  mute,  respectful,  a 
little  bent  with  his  great  age  ;  but  now  his  good 
manners  —  and  better  manners  were  never  seen  — 
impelled  him  to  break  silence  upon  some  subject, 
since  he  would  not  permit  himself  to  speak  con 
cerning  the  one  which  I  had  introduced.  It  was 
the  phosphates  which  inspired  him. 

"  Dey  is  mighty  fine  prostrate  wukks  heah,  sah." 
"  Yes,  I've  been  told  so,  Daddy  Ben." 
"  On    dis   side   up    de    ribber    an'  tudder  side 
down    de    ribber   'cross   de   new   bridge.      Wuth 
visitin'  fo'  strangers,  sah." 

I  now  felt  entirely  high  and  dry.  I  had  at 
tempted  to  enter  into  conversation  with  him 
about  the  intimate  affairs  of  a  family  to  which 
he  felt  that  he  belonged ;  and  with  perfect  tact  he 
had  not  only  declined  to  discuss  them  with  me, 
but  had  delicately  informed  me  that  I  was  a 
stranger  and  as  such  had  better  visit  the  phos 
phate  works  among  the  other  sights  of  Kings 
Port.  No  diplomat  could  have  done  it  better ; 
and  as  I  walked  away  from  him  I  knew  that  he 
regarded  me  as  an  outsider,  a  Northerner,  belong 
ing  to  a  race  hostile  to  his  people  ;  he  had  seen 
Mas'  John  friendly  with  me,  but  that  was  Mas' 
John's  affair.  And  so  it  was  that  if  the  ladies 
had  kept  something  from  me,  this  cunning,  old, 
polite,  coal-black  African  had  kept  everything 
from  me. 

If  all  the  negroes  in  Kings  Port  were  like 
Daddy  Ben,  Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael  would  not 
have  spoken  of  having  them  "  to  deal  with,"  and 
the  girl  behind  the  counter  would  not  have  been 
thrown  into  such  indignation  when  she  alluded  to 


DADDY   BEN    AND    HIS   SEED  167 

their  conceit  and  ignorance.  Daddy  Ben  had,  so- 
far  from  being  purled  up  by  the  appointment  in 
the  Custom  House,  disapproved  of  this.  I  had 
heard  enough  about  the  difference  between  the 
old  and  new  generations  of  the'  negro  of  Kings 
Port  to  believe  it  to  be  true,  and  I  had  come  to 
discern  how  evidently  it  lay  at  the  bottom  of 
many  things  here  :  John  Mayrant  and  his  kind 
were  a  band  united  by  a  number  of  strong  ties» 
but  by  nothing  so  much  as  by  their  hatred  of  the 
modern  negro  in  their  town.  Yes,  I  was  obliged 
to  believe  that  the  young  Kings  Port  African, 
left  to  freedom  and  the  ballot,  was  a  worse  Afri 
can  than  his  slave  parents ;  but  this  afternoon 
brought  me  a  taste  of  it  more  pungent  than  all 
the  assurances  in  the  world. 

I  bought  my  kettle-supporter,  and  learned  from 
the  robber  who  sold  it  to  me  (Kings  Port  prices 
for  "  old  things  "  are  the  most  exorbitant  that  I 
know  anywhere)  that  a  carpenter  lived  not  far 
from  Mrs.  Trevise's  boarding-house,  and  that  he 
would  make  for  me  the  box  in  which  I  could  pack 
my  various  purchases. 

"  That  is,  if  he's  working  this  week,"  added  the 
robber. 

"  What  else  would  he  be  doing  ?  " 

"  It  may  be  his  week  for  getting  drunk  on  what 
he  earned  the  week  before."  And  upon  this  he 
announced  with  as  much  bitterness  as  if  he  had 
been  John  Mayrant  or  any  of  his  aunts,  "  That's 
what  Boston  philanthropy  has  done  for  him." 

I  flared  up  at  this.  "  I  suppose  that's  a  South 
ern  argument  for  reestablishing  slavery." 

"  I  am    not    Southern  ;     Breslau  is  my  native 


1 68  LADY   BALTIMORE 

town,  and  I  came  from  New  York  here  to  live  five 
years  ago.  I've  seen  what  your  emancipation  has 
done  for  the  black,  and  I  say  to  you,  my  friend, 
honest  I  don't  know  a  fool  from  a  philanthropist 
any  longer." 

He  had  much  right  upon  his  side  ;  and  it  can 
be  seen  daily  that  philanthropy  does  not  always 
walk  hand-in-hand  with  wisdom.  Does  anything 
or  anybody  always  walk  so  ?  Moreover,  I  am  a 
friend  to  not  many  superlatives,  and  have  per 
ceived  no  saying  to  be  more  true  than  the  one 
that  extremes  meet :  they  meet  indeed,  and  folly 
is  their  meeting-place.  Nor  could  I  say  in  the 
case  of  the  negro  which  folly  were  the  more  ridicu 
lous  ; —  that  which  expects  a  race  which  has 
lived  no  one  knows  how  many  thousand  years  in 
mental  nakedness  while  Confucius,  Moses,  and 
Napoleon  were  flowering  upon  adjacent  human 
stems,  should  put  on  suddenly  the  white  man's 
intelligence,  or  that  other  folly  which  declares  we 
can  do  nothing  for  the  African,  as  if  Hampton 
had  not  already  wrought  excellent  things  for  him. 
I  had  no  mind  to  enter  into  all  the  inextricable 
error  with  this  Teuton,  and  it  was  he  who  con 
tinued  :  — 

"  Oh,  these  Boston  philanthropists ;  oh,  these 
know-it-alls  !  Why  don't  they  stay  home  ?  Why 
do  they  come  down  here  to  worry  us  with  their 
ignorance?  See  here,  my  friend,  let  me  show 
you !  " 

He  rushed  about  his  shop  in  a  search  of  dis 
traught  eagerness,  and  with  a  multitude  of  small 
exclamations,  until,  screeching  jubilantly  once, 
he  pounced  upon  a  shabby  and  learned-looking 


DADDY   BEN   AND    HIS   SEED  169 

volume.  This  he  brought  me,  thrusting  it  with 
his  trembling  fingers  between  my  own,  and  shuf 
fling  the  open  pages.  But  when  the  apparently 
right  one  was  found,  he  exclaimed,  "  No,  I  have 
better ! "  and  dashed  away  to  a  pile  of  pamphlets 
on  the  floor,  where  he  began  to  plough  and  harrow. 
Wondering  if  I  was  closeted  with  a  maniac,  I 
looked  at  the  book  in  my  passive  hand,  and  saw 
diagrams  of  various  bones  to  me  unknown,  and 
men's  names  of  which  I  was  equally  ignorant  — 
Mivart,  Topinard,  and  more,  —  but  at  last  that  of 
Huxley.  But  this  agreeable  sight  was  spoiled  at 
once  by  the  quite  horrible  words  Nycticebidce, 
platyrrhine,  catarrhine,  from  which  I  raised  my 
eyes  to  see  him  coming  at  me  with  two  pamphlets, 
and  scolding  as  he  came. 

"  Are  you  educated,  yes  ?  Have  been  to  college, 
yes  ?  Then  perhaps  you  will  understand." 

Certainly  I  understood  immediately  that  he  and 
his  pamphlets  were  as  bad  as  the  book,  or  worse, 
in  their  use  of  a  vocabulary  designed  to  cause 
almost  any  listener  the  gravest  inconvenience. 
Common  Eocene  ancestors  occurred  at  the  begin 
ning  of  his  lecture ;  and  I  believed  that  if  it  got 
no  stronger  than  this,  I  could  at  least  preserve  the 
appearance  of  comprehending  him ;  but  it  got 
stronger,  and  at  sacro-iliac  notch  I  may  say,  with 
out  using  any  grossly  exaggerated  expression,  that 
I  became  unconscious.  At  least,  all  intelligence 
left  me.  When  it  returned,  he  was  saying :  — 

"But  this  is  only  the  beginning.  Come  in  here 
to  my  crania  and  jaws." 

Evidently  he  held  me  hypnotized,  for  he  now 
hurried  me  unresisting  through  a  back  door  into 


170  LADY   BALTIMORE 

a  dark  little  room,  where  he  turned  up  the  gas, 
and  I  saw  shelves  as  in  a  museum,  to  one  of  which 
he  led  me.  I  suppose  that  it  was  curiosity  that 
rendered  me  thus  sheep-like.  Upon  the  shelf 
were  a  number  of  skulls  and  jaws  in  admirable 
condition  and  graded  arrangement,  beginning  to 
the  left  with  that  flat  kind  of  skull  which  one  as 
sociates  with  gorillas.  He  resumed  his  scolding 
harangue,  and  for  a  few  brief  moments  I  under 
stood  him.  Here,  told  by  themselves,  was  as  much 
of  the  story  of  the  skulls  as  we  know,  from  man 
like  apes  through  glacial  man  to  the  modern 
senator  or  railroad  president.  But  my  intelligence 
was  destined  soon  to  die  away  again. 

"  That  is  the  Caucasian  skull :  your  skull,"  he 
said,  touching  a  specimen  at  the  right. 

"  Interesting,"  I  murmured.  "  I'm  afraid  I  know 
nothing  about  skulls." 

"  But  you  shall  know  someding  before  you 
leave,"  he  retorted,  wagging  his  head  at  me;  and 
this  time  it  was  not  the  book,  but  a  specimen,  that 
he  pushed  into  my  grasp.  He  gave  it  a  name, 
not  as  bad  as  platyrrhine,  but  I  feared  worse  was 
coming ;  then  he  took  it  away  from  me,  gave  me 
another  skull,  and  while  I  obediently  held  it, 
pronounced  something  quite  beyond  me. 

"  And  what  is  the  translation  of  that  ? "  he  de 
manded  excitedly. 

"  Tell  me,"  I  feebly  answered. 

He  shouted  with  overweening  triumph :  "  The 
translation  of  that  is  South  Carolina  nigger! 
Notice  well  this  so  egcellent  specimen.  Progna 
thous,  megadont,  platyrrhine." 

"  Ha !  Platyrrhine  !  "  I  saluted  the  one  word 
I  recognized  as  I  drowned. 


DADDY   BEN   AND    HIS   SEED  171 

"  You  have  said  it  yourself !  "  was  his  extraordi 
nary  answer  ;  —  for  what  had  I  said  ?  Almost  as  if 
he  were  going  to  break  into  a  dance  for  joy,  he 
took  the  Caucasian  skull  and  the  other  two,  and 
set  the  three  together  by  themselves,  away  from 
the  rest  of  the  collection.  The  picture  which  they 
thus  made  spoke  more  than  all  the  measurements 
and  statistics  which  he  now  chattered  out  upon 
me,  reading  from  his  book  as  I  contemplated  the 
skulls.  There  was  a  similarity  of  shape,  a  kinship 
there  between  the  three,  which  stared  you  in  the 
face ;  but  in  the  contours  of  vaulted  skull,  the  pro 
jecting  jaws,  and  the  great  molar  teeth  —  what 
was  to  be  seen  ?  Why,  in  every  respect  that  the 
African  departed  from  the  Caucasian,  he  departed 
in  the  direction  of  the  ape !  Here  was  zoology 
mutely  but  eloquently  telling  us  why  there  had 
blossomed  no  Confucius,  no  Moses,  no  Napoleon, 
upon  that  black  stem  ;  why  no  Iliad,  no  Parthenon, 
no  Sistine  Madonna,  had  ever  risen  from  that 
tropic  mud. 

The  collector  touched  my  sleeve.  "  Have  you 
now  learned  someding  about  skulls,  my  friend  ? 
Will  you  invite  those  Boston  philanthropists  to 
stay  home  ?  They  will  get  better  results  in  civili 
zation  by  giving  votes  to  monkeys  than  teaching 
Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  to  niggers." 

Retaliation  rose  in  me.  "  Haven't  you  learned 
to  call  them  negroes  ?  "  I  remarked.  But  this  was 
lost  upon  the  Teuton.  I  was  tempted  to  tell  him 
that  I  was  no  philanthropist,  and  no  Bostonian, 
and  that  he  need  not  shout  so  loud,  but  my  more 
dignified  instincts  restrained  me.  I  withdrew  my 
sleeve  from  his  touch  (it  was  this  act  of  his,  I  think, 


172  LADY   BALTIMORE 

that  had  most  to  do  with  my  displeasure),  and 
merely  bidding  him  observe  that  the  enormous 
price  of  the  kettle-supporter  had  been  reduced 
for  me  by  his  exhibition  to  a  bagatelle,  I  left  the 
shop  of  the  screaming  anatomist  —  or  Afropath, 
or  whatever  it  may  seem  most  fitting  that  he  should 
be  called. 

I  bore  the  kettle-supporter  with  me,  tied  up 
objectionably  in  newspaper,  and  knotted  with  un 
gainly  string ;  and  it  was  this  bundle  which  pre 
vented  my  joining  the  girl  behind  the  counter,  and 
ending  by  a  walk  with  a  young  lady  the  afternoon 
that  had  begun  by  a  walk  with  two  old  ones.  I 
should  have  liked  to  make  my  confession  to  her. 
She  was  evidently  out  for  the  sake  of  taking  the 
air,  and  had  with  her  no  companion  save  the  big 
curly  white  dog  ;  confession  would  have  been  very 
agreeable ;  but  I  looked  again  at  my  ugly  news 
paper  bundle,  and  turned  in  a  direction  that  she 
was  not  herself  pursuing. 

Twice,  as  I  went,  I  broke  into  laughter  over  my 
interview  in  the  shop,  which  I  fear  has  lost  its 
comical  quality  in  the  relating.  To  enter  a  door 
and  come  serenely  in  among  dingy  mahogany  and 
glass  objects,  to  bargain  haughtily  for  a  brass 
bauble  with  the  shopkeeper,  and  to  have  a  few  ex 
changed  remarks  suddenly  turn  the  whole  place 
into  a  sort  of  bedlam  with  a  gibbering  scientist 
dashing  skulls  at  me  to  prove  his  fixed  idea,  and 
myself  quite  furious  —  I  laughed  more  than  twice  ; 
but,  by  the  time  I  had  approached  the  neighbor 
hood  of  the  carpenter's  shop,  another  side  of  it 
had  brought  reflection  to  my  mind.  Here  was  a 
foreigner  to  whom  slavery  and  the  Lost  Cause 


\ 


1 


No  companion  save  the  big  curly  white  dog 


DADDY   BEN   AND   HIS   SEED  175 

were  nothing,  whose  whole  association  with  the 
South  had  begun  but  five  years  ago ;  and  the  race 
question  had  brought  his  feelings  to  this  pitch ! 
He  had  seen  the  Kings  Port  negro  with  the  eyes 
of  the  flesh,  and  not  with  the  eyes  of  theory,  and 
as  a  result  the  reddest  rag  for  him  was  pale  beside 
a  Boston  philanthropist ! 

Nevertheless,  I  have  said  already  that  I  am  no 
lover  of  superlatives,  and  in  doctrine  especially  is 
this  true.  We  need  not  expect  a  Confucius  from 
the  negro,  nor  yet  a  Chesterfield ;  but  I  am  an 
enemy  also  of  that  blind  and  base  hate  against  him, 
which  conducts  nowhere  save  to  the  de-civilizing 
of  white  and  black  alike.  Who  brought  him  here  ? 
Did  he  invite  himself?  Then  let  us  make  the 
best  of  it  and  teach  him,  lead  him,  compel  him  to 
live  self-respecting,  not  as  statesman,  poet,  or  finan 
cier,  but  by  the  honorable  toil  of  his  hand  and  sweat 
of  his  brow.  Because  "the  door  of  hope"  was 
once  opened  too  suddenly  for  him  is  no  reason  for 
slamming  it  now  forever  in  his  face. 

Thus  mentally  I  lectured  back  at  the  Teuton  as 
I  went  through  the  streets  of  Kings  Port ;  and 
after  a  while  I  turned  a  corner  which  took  me 
abruptly,  as  with  one  magic  step,  out  of  the  white 
man's  world  into  the  blackest  Congo.  Even  the 
well-inhabited  quarter  of  Kings  Port  (and  I  had 
now  come  within  this  limited  domain)  holds  nar 
row  lanes  and  recesses  which  teem  and  swarm  with 
negroes.  As  cracks  will  run  through  fine  porce 
lain,  so  do  these  black  rifts  of  Africa  lurk  almost 
invisible  among  the  gardens  and  the  houses.  The 
picture  that  these  places  offered,  tropic,  squalid, 
and  fecund,  often  caused  me  to  walk  through  them 


176 


LADY   BALTIMORE 


As  cracks  will  run  through  fine  porcelain,  so  do  these  black  rifts 
of  Africa  lurk  almost  invisible  among  the  gardens 

and  watch  the  basking  population  ;  the  intricate, 
broken  wooden  galleries,  the  rickety  outside  stair- 


DADDY  BEN   AND   HIS   SEED  177 

cases,  the  red  and  yellow  splashes  of  color  on  the 
clothes  lines,  the  agglomerate  rags  that  stuffed 
holes  in  decaying  roofs  or  hung  nakedly  on  human 
frames,  the  small,  choked  dwellings,  bursting  open 
at  doors  and  windows  with  black,  round-eyed  babies 
as  an  overripe  melon  bursts  with  seeds,  the  children 
playing  marbles  in  the  court,  the  parents  play 
ing  cards  in  the  room,  the  grandparents  smoking 
pipes  on  the  porch,  and  the  great -grandparents  up 
stairs  gazing  out  at  you  like  creatures  from  the 
Old  Testament  or  the  jungle.  From  the  jungle 
we  had  stolen  them,  North  and  South  had  stolen 
them  together,  long  ago,  to  be  slaves,  not  to  be 
citizens,  and  now  here  they  were,  the  fruits  of  our 
theft ;  and  for  some  reason  (possibly  the  Teuton 
was  the  reason)  that  passage  from  the  Book  of 
Exodus  came  into  my  head :  "  For  I  the  Lord  thy 
God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children." 

These  thoughts  were  interrupted  by  sounds  as 
of  altercation.  I  had  nearly  reached  the  end  of 
the  lane,  where  I  should  again  emerge  into  the 
white  man's  world,  and  where  I  was  now  walking 
the  lane  spread  into  a  broader  space  with  ells  and 
angles  and  rotting  steps,  and  habitations  mostly 
too  ruinous  to  be  inhabited.  It  was  from  a  sash- 
less  window  in  one  of  these  that  the  angry 
voices  came.  The  first  words  which  were  dis 
tinct  aroused  my  interest  quite  beyond  the  scale 
of  an  ordinary  altercation  :  — 

"  Calls  you'self  a  reconstuckted  niggah  ?  " 
This    was    said    sharply    and    with    prodigious 
scorn.    The  answer  which  it  brought  was  lengthy 
and  of  such  a  general  sullen  incoherence  that  I 


178  LADY  BALTIMORE 

could  make  out  only  a  frequent  repetition  of 
"  custom  house,"  and  that  somebody  was  going  to 
take  care  of  somebody  hereafter. 

Into  this  the  first  voice  broke  with  tones  of  high 
est  contempt  and  rapidity  :  — 

"  Presid^/  gwine  to  gib  brekfus'  an'  dinnah  an 
suppah  to  de  likes  ob  you  fo'  de  whole  remaindah 
ob  youh  wuthless  nat'ral  life  ?  Get  out  ob  my 
sight,  you  reconstuckted  niggah.  I  come  out  ob 
de  St.  Michael." 

There  came  through  the  window  immediately 
upon  this  sounds  of  scuffling  and  of  a  fall,  and 
then  cries  for  help  which  took  me  running  into 
the  dilapidated  building.  Daddy  Ben  lay  on  the 
floor,  and  a  thick,  young  savage  was  kicking  him. 
In  some  remarkable  way  I  thought  of  the  solidity 
of  their  heads,  and  before  the  assailant  even  knew 
that  he  had  a  witness,  I  sped  forward,  aiming  my 
kettle-supporter,  and  with  its  sharp  brass  edge  I 
dealt  him  a  crack  over  his  shin  with  astonish 
ing  accuracy.  It  was  a  dismal  howl  that  he 
gave,  and  as  he  turned  he  got  from  me  another 
crack  upon  the  other  shin.  I  had  no  time  to 
be  alarmed  at  my  deed,  or  I  think  that  I  should 
have  been  very  much  so ;  I  am  a  man  above  all 
of  peace,  and  physical  encounters  are  peculiarly 
abhorrent  to  me ;  but,  so  far  from  assailing  me, 
the  thick,  young  savage,  with  the  single  muttered 
remark,  "  He  hit  me  fust,"  got  himself  out  of  the 
house  with  the  most  agreeable  rapidity. 

Daddy  Ben  sat  up,  and  his  first  inquiry  greatly 
reassured  me  as  to  his  state.  He  stared  at  my 
paper  bundle.  "  You  done  make  him  hollah  wid 
dat,  sah !  " 


DADDY   BEN   AND   HIS   SEED  179 

I  showed  him  the  kettle-supporter  through  a 
rent  in  its  wrapping,  and  I  assisted  him  to  stand 
upright.  His  injuries  proved  fortunately  to  be 
slight  (although  I  may  say  here  that  the  shock  to 
his  ancient  body  kept  him  away  for  a  few  days  from 
the  churchyard),  and  when  I  began  to  talk  to  him 
about  the  incident,  he  seemed  unwilling  to  say 
much  in  answer  to  my  questions.  And  when  I 
offered  to  accompany  him  to  where  he  lived,  he 
declined  altogether,  assuring  me  that  it  was  close, 
and  that  he  could  walk  there  as  well  as  if  nothing 
had  happened  to  him ;  but  upon  my  asking  him 
if  I  was  on  the  right  way  to  the  carpenter's  shop, 
he  looked  at  me  curiously. 

"  No  use  you  gwine,  dah,  sah.  Dat  shop  close 
up.  He  not  wukkin,  dis  week,  and  dat  why  fo'  I 
jaw  him  jus'  now  when  you  come  in  an'  stop  him. 
He  de  cahpentah,  my  gran'son,  Cha's  Cotes- 
wuth." 


XII 

FROM    THE    BEDSIDE 

morning  when  I  saw  the  weltering  sky 
I  resigned  myself  to  a  day  of  dulness  ;  yet 
before  its  end  I  had  caught  a  bright  new  glimpse 
of  John  Mayrant's  abilities,  and  also  had  come, 
through  tribulation,  to  a  further  understanding  of 
the  South ;  so  that  I  do  not,  to-day,  regret  the 
tribulation.  As  the  rain  disappointed  me  of  two 
outdoor  expeditions,  to  which  I  had  been  for 
some  little  while  looking  forward,  I  dedicated 
most  of  my  long  morning  to  a  sadly  neglected 
correspondence,  and  trusted  that  the  expeditions, 
as  soon  as  the  next  fine  weather  visited  Kings 
Port,  would  still  be  in  store  for  me.  Not  only 
everybody  in  town  here,  but  Aunt  Carola,  up  in 
the  North  also,  had  assured  me  that  to  miss  the 
sight  of  Live  Oaks  when  the  azaleas  in  the  gar 
dens  of  that  country  seat  were  in  flower  would  be 
to  lose  one  of  the  rarest  and  most  beautiful  things 
which  could  be  seen  anywhere ;  and  so  I  looked 
out  of  my  window  at  the  furious  storm,  hoping 
that  it  might  not  strip  the  bushes  at  Live  Oaks  of 
their  bloom,  which  recent  tourists  at  Mrs.  Tre- 
vise's  had  described  as  drawing  near  the  zenith  of 
its  luxuriance.  The  other  excursion  to  Udolpho 
with  John  Mayrant  was  not  so  likely  to  fall 
through.  Udolpho  was  a  sort  of  hunting  lodge 

180 


FROM     THE   BEDSIDE  181 

or  country  club  near  Tern  Creek  and  an  old 
colonial  church,  so  old  that  it  bore  the  royal 
arms  upon  a  shield  still  preserved  as  a  sign  of  its 
colonial  origin.  A  note  from  Mayrant,  received 
at  breakfast,  informed  me  that  the  rain  would 
take  all  pleasure  from  such  an  excursion,  and  that 
he  should  seize  the  earliest  opportunity  the 
weather  might  afford  to  hold  me  to  my  promise. 
The  wet  gale,  even  as  I  sat  writing,  was  beating 
down  some  of  the  full-blown  flowers  in  the  garden 
next  Mrs.  Trevise's  house,  and  as  the  morning 
wore  on  I  watched  the  paths  grow  more  strewn 
with  broken  twigs  and  leaves. 

I  filled  my  correspondence  with  accounts  of 
Daddy  Ben  and  his  grandson,  the  carpenter, 
doubtless  from  some  pride  in  my  part  in  that,  but 
also  because  it  had  become,  through  thinking  it 
over,  even  more  interesting  to-day  than  it  had  been 
at  the  moment  of  its  occurrence ;  and  in  reply 
ing  to  a  sort  of  postscript  of  Aunt  Carola's  in 
which  she  hurriedly  wrote  that  she  had  forgotten 
to  say  she  had  heard  the  La  Heu  family  in  South 
Carolina  was  related  to  the  Bombos,  and  should 
be  obliged  to  me  if  I  would  make  inquiries  about 
this,  I  told  her  that  it  would  be  easy,  and  then 
described  to  her  the  Teuton,  plying  his  "  antiq 
uity  "  trade  externally  while  internally  cherishing 
his  collected  skulls  and  nursing  his  scientific  rage. 
All  my  letters  were  the  more  abundant  concern 
ing  these  adventures  of  mine  from  my  having  kept 
entirely  silent  upon  them  at  Mrs.  Trevise's  tea- 
table.  I  dreaded  Juno  when  let  loose  upon  the 
negro  question ;  and  the  fact  that  I  was  begin 
ning  to  understand  her  feelings  did  not  at  all  make 


1 82  LADY  BALTIMORE 

me  wish  to  be  deafened  by  them.  Neither  Juno, 
therefore,  nor  any  of  them  learned  a  word  from 
me  about  the  kettle-supporter  incident.  What  I 
did  take  pains  to  inform  the  assembled  company 
was  my  gratification  that  the  report  of  Mr.  May- 
rant's  engagement  being  broken  was  unfounded ; 
and  this  caused  Juno  to  observe  that  in  that  case 
Miss  Rieppe  must  have  the  most  imperative 
reasons  for  uniting  herself  to  such  a  young  man. 

Unintimidated  by  the  rain,  this  formidable  crea 
ture  had  taken  herself  off  to  her  nephew's  bedside 
almost  immediately  after  breakfast ;  and  later  in 
the  day  I,  too,  risked  a  drenching  for  the  sake  of 
ordering  the  packing-box  that  I  needed.  When  I 
returned,  it  was  close  on  tea-time  ;  I  had  seen  Mrs. 
Weguelin  St.  Michael  send  out  the  hot  coffee  to 
the  conductor,  and  I  had  found  a  negro  carpenter 
whose  week  it  happily  was  to  stay  sober;  and 
now  I  learned  that,  when  tea  should  be  finished, 
the  poetess  had  in  store  for  us,  as  a  treat,  her 
ode. 

Our  evening  meal  was  not  plain  sailing,  even 
for  the  veteran  navigation  of  Mrs.  Trevise ;  Juno 
had  returned  from  the  bedside  very  plainly  dis 
pleased  (she  was  always  candid  even  when  silent) 
by  something  which  had  happened  there ;  and 
before  the  joyful  moment  came  when  we  all 
learned  what  this  was,  a  very  gouty  Boston  lady 
who  had  arrived  with  her  husband  from  Florida 
on  her  way  North  —  and  whose  nature  you  will 
readily  grasp  when  I  tell  you  that  we  found  our 
selves  speaking  of  the  man  as  Mrs.  Braintree's 
husband  and  never  as  Mr.  Braintree  —  this 
crippled  lady,  who  was  of  a  candor  equal  to  Juno's, 


FROM   THE   BEDSIDE  183 

embarked  upon  a  conversation  with  Juno  that 
compelled  Mrs.  Trevise  to  tinkle  her  bell  for 
Daphne  after  only  two  remarks  had  been  ex 
changed. 

I  had  been  sorry  at  first  that  here  in  this 
Southern  boarding-house  Boston  should  be  repre 
sented  only  by  a  lady  who  appeared  to  unite  in 
herself  all  the  stony  products  of  that  city,  and 
none  of  the  others  ;  for  she  was  as  convivial  as  a 
statue  and  as  well-informed  as  a  spelling-book ; 
she  stood  no  more  for  the  whole  of  Boston  than 
did  Juno  for  the  whole  of  Kings  Port.  But  my 
sorrow  grew  less  when  I  found  that  in  Mrs.  Brain- 
tree  we  had  indeed  a  capable  match  for  her  South 
ern  counterpart.  Juno,  according  to  her  custom, 
had  remembered  something  objectionable  that 
had  been  perpetrated  in  1865  by  the  Northern 
vandals. 

"  Edward,"  said  Mrs.  Braintree  to  her  husband, 
in  a  frightfully  clear  voice,  "  it  was  at  Chambers- 
burg,  was  it  not,  that  the  Southern  vandals  burned 
the  house  in  which  were  your  father's  title-deeds  ?  " 

Edward,  who,  it  appeared,  had  fought  through 
the  whole  Civil  War,  and  was  in  consequence 
perfectly  good-humored  and  peaceable  in  his  feel 
ings  upon  that  subject,  replied  hastily  and  ami 
ably  :  "  Oh,  yes,  yes  !  Why,  I  believe  it  was  !  " 

But  this  availed  nothing;  Juno  bent  her  great 
height  forward,  and  addressed  Mrs.  Braintree. 
"  This  is  the  first  time  I  have  been  told  South 
erners  were  vandals." 

"  You  will  never  be  able  to  say  that  again !  " 
replied  Mrs.  Braintree. 

After   the    bell  and  Daphne  had  stopped,  the 


184  LADY   BALTIMORE 

invaluable  Briton  addressed  a  genial  generaliza 
tion  to  us  all :  "  I  often  think  how  truly  awful 
your  war  would  have  been  if  the  women  had 
fought  it,  y'know,  instead  of  the  men." 

"  Quite  so  ! "  said  the  easy-going  Edward. 
"  Squaws  !  Mutilation  !  Yes  !  "  and  he  laughed 
at  his  little  joke,  but  he  laughed  alone. 

I  turned  to  Juno.  "  Speaking  of  mutilation,  I 
trust  your  nephew  is  better  this  evening." 

I  was  rejoiced  by  receiving  a  glare  in  response. 
But  still  more  joy  was  to  come. 

"  An  apology  ought  to  help  cure  him  a  lot," 
observed  the  Briton. 

Juno  employed  her  policy  of  not  hearing  him. 

"  Indeed,  I  trust  that  your  nephew  is  in  less 
pain,"  said  the  poetess. 

Juno  was  willing  to  answer  this.  "The  injuries, 
thank  you,  are  the  merest  trifles  —  all  that  such  a 
light-weight  could  inflict."  And  she  shrugged 
her  shoulders  to  indicate  the  futility  of  young 
John's  pugilism. 

"  But,"  the  surprised  Briton  interposed,  "  I 
thought  you  said  your  nephew  was  too  feeble 
to  eat  steak  or  hear  poetry." 

Juno  could  always  stem  the  eddy  of  her  own 
contradictions  —  but  she  did  raise  her  voice  a 
little.  "  I  fancy,  sir,  that  Doctor  Beaugar^on 
knows  what  he  is  talking  about." 

"  Have  they  apologized  yet  ?  "  inquired  the  male 
honeymooner  from  the  up-country. 

"  My  nephew,  sir,  nobly  consented  to  shake 
hands  this  afternoon.  He  did  it  entirely  out  of 
respect  for  Mr.  Mayrant's  family,  who  coerced 
him  into  this  tardy  reparation,  and  who  feel  un- 


FROM   THE   BEDSIDE  185 

able  to  recognize  him  since  his  treasonable  atti 
tude  in  the  Custom  House." 

"  Must  be  fairly  hard  to  coerce  a  chap  you  can't 
recognize,"  said  the  Briton. 

An  et  cetera  now  spoke  to  the  honeymoon 
bride  from  the  up-country :  "  I  heard  Doctor 
Beaugar^on  say  he  was  coming  to  visit  you  this 
evening." 

"  Yais,"assented  the  bride.  "Doctor  Beaugar^on 
is  my  mother's  fourth  cousin." 

Juno  now  took  —  most  unwisely,  as  it  proved 
—  a  vindictive  turn  at  me.  "  I  knew  that  your 
friend,  Mr.  Mayrant,  was  intemperate,"  she  began. 

I  don't  think  that  Mrs.  Trevise  had  any  inten 
tion  to  ring  for  Daphne  at  this  point  —  her  curi 
osity  was  too  lively ;  but  Juno  was  going  to  risk 
no  such  intervention,  and  I  saw  her  lay  a  pre 
cautionary  hand  heavily  down  over  the  belL 
"  But,"  she  continued,  "  I  did  not  know  that  Mr. 
Mayrant  was  a  gambler." 

"  Have  you  ever  seen  him  intemperate  ?  "  I 
asked. 

"  That  would  be  quite  needless,"  Juno  returned. 
"  And  of  the  gambling  I  have  ocular  proof,  since 
I  found  him,  cards,  counters,  and  money,  with  my 
sick  nephew.  He  had  actually  brought  cards  in 
his  pocket." 

"  I  suppose,"  said  the  Briton,  "  your  nephew 
was  too  sick  to  resist  him." 

The  male  honeymooner,  with  two  of  the  et 
ceteras,  made  such  unsteady  demonstrations  at 
this  that  Mrs.  Trevise  protracted  our  sitting  no 
longer.  She  rose,  and  this  meant  rising  for  us 
alL 


1 86  LADY   BALTIMORE 

A  sense  of  regret  and  incompleteness  filled  me, 
and  finding  the  Briton  at  my  elbow  as  our  com 
pany  proceeded  toward  the  sitting  room,  I  said: 
"  Too  bad  !  " 

His  whisper  was  confident.  "  We'll  get  the 
rest  of  it  out  of  her  yet." 

But  the  rest  of  it  came  without  our  connivance. 

In  the  sitting  room  Doctor  Beaugar^on  sat 
waiting,  and  at  sight  of  Juno  entering  the  door 
(she  headed  our  irregular  procession)  he  sprang 
up  and  lifted  admiring  hands.  "  Oh,  why  didn't 
I  have  an  aunt  like  you !  "  he  exclaimed,  and  to 
Mrs.  Trevise  as  she  followed :  "  She  pays  her 
nephew's  poker  debts." 

"  How  much,  cousin  Tom  ? "  asked  the  up- 
country  bride. 

And  the  gay  old  doctor  chuckled,  as  he  kissed 
her :  "  Thirty  dollars  this  afternoon,  my  darling." 

At  this  the  Briton  dragged  me  behind  a  door 
in  the  hall,  and  there  we  danced  together. 

"  That  Mayrant  chap  will  do,"  he  declared ; 
and  we  composed  ourselves  for  a  proper  entrance 
into  the  sitting  room,  where  the  introductions  had 
been  made,  and  where  Doctor  Beauga^on  and 
Mrs.  Braintree's  husband  had  already  fallen  into 
war  reminiscences,  and  were  discovering  with 
mutual  amiability  that  they  had  fought  against 
each  other  in  a  number  of  battles. 

"And  you  generally  licked  us,"  smiled  the 
Union  soldier. 

"  Ah !  don't  I  know  myself  how  it  feels  to 
run  !  "  laughed  the  Confederate.  "  Are  you  down 
at  the  club  ?  " 

But  upon  learning  from  the  poetess  that   her 


Too  sick  to  resist  him 


FROM  THE   BEDSIDE  189 

ode  was  now  to  be  read  aloud,  Doctor  Beaugar^on 
paid  his  fourth  cousin's  daughter  a  brief,  though 
affectionate,  visit,  lamenting  that  a  very  ill  patient 
should  compel  him  to  take  himself  away  so  imme 
diately,  but  promising  her  presently  in  his  stead 
two  visitors  much  more  interesting. 

"  Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael  desires  to  call 
upon  you,"  he  said,  "  and  I  fancy  that  her  nephew 
will  escort  her." 

"  In  all  this  rain  ? "  said  the  bride. 

"  Oh,  it's  letting  up,  letting  up !  Good  night, 
Mistress  Trevise.  Good  night,  sir;  I  am  glad  to 
have  met  you."  He  shook  hands  with  Mrs. 
Braintree's  husband.  "  We  fellows,"  he  whispered, 
*'  who  fought  in  the  war  have  had  war  enough." 
And  bidding  the  general  company  good  night,  and 
kissing  the  bride  again,  he  left  us  even  as  the 
poetess  returned  from  her  room  with  the  manu 
script. 

I  soon  wished  that  I  had  escaped  with  him,  be 
cause  I  feared  what  Mrs.  Braintree  might  say 
when  the  verses  should  be  finished;  and  so,  I 
think,  did  her  husband.  We  should  have  taken 
the  hint  which  tactful  Doctor  Beaugar^on  had 
meant,  I  began  to  believe,  to  give  us  in  that  whis 
pered  remark  of  his.  But  it  had  been  given  too 
lightly,  and  so  we  sat  and  heard  the  ode  out.  I 
am  sure  that  the  poetess,  wrapped  in  the  thoughts 
of  her  own  composition,  had  lost  sight  of  all  but 
the  phrasing  of  her  poem  and  the  strong  feelings 
which  it  not  unmusically  voiced  ;  there  is  no  other 
way  to  account  for  her  being  willing  to  read  it  in 
Mrs.  Braintree's  presence. 

Whatever  gayety  had  filled  me  when  the  Boston 


LADY   BALTIMORE 

lady  had  clashed  with  Juno  was  now  changed  to 
deprecation  and  concern.  Indeed,  I  myself  felt 
almost  as  if  I  were  being  physically  struck  by  the 
words,  until  mere  bewilderment  took  possession 
of  me ;  and  after  bewilderment,  a  little,  a  very 
little,  light,  which,  however,  rapidly  increased. 
We  were  the  victors,  we  the  North,  and  we  had 
gone  upon  our  way  with  songs  and  rejoicing  — 
able  to  forget,  because  we  were  the  victors.  We 
had  our  victory ;  let  the  vanquished  have  their 
memory.  But  here  was  the  cry  of  the  vanquished, 
coming  after  forty  years.  It  was  the  time  which 
at  first  bewildered  me ;  Juno  had  seen  the  war, 
Juno's  bitterness  I  could  comprehend,  even  if  I 
could  not  comprehend  her  freedom  in  expressing 
it ;  but  the  poetess  could  not  be  more  than  a  year 
or  two  older  than  I  was ;  she  had  come  after  it 
was  all  over.  Why  should  she  prolong  such 
memories  and  feelings  ?  But  my  light  increased 
as  I  remembered  she  had  not  written  this  for  us, 
and  that  if  she  had  not  seen  the  flames  of  war,  she 
had  seen  the  ashes ;  for  the  ashes  I  had  seen  my 
self  here  in  Kings  Port,  and  had  been  over 
whelmed  by  the  sight,  forty  years  later,  more 
overwhelmed  than  I  could  possibly  say  to  Mrs. 
Gregory  St.  Michael,  or  Mrs.  Weguelin,  or  any 
body.  The  strain  of  sitting  and  waiting  for  the 
end  made  my  hands  cold  and  my  head  hot,  but 
nevertheless  the  light  which  had  come  enabled  me 
to  bend  instantly  to  Mrs.  Braintree  and  murmur  a 
great  and  abused  quotation  to  her :  — 
"  Tout  comprendre  cest  tout  pardonnerr 
But  my  petition  could  not  move  her.  She  was 
too  old ;  she  had  seen  the  flames  of  war ;  and  so 
she  said  to  her  husband:  — 


FROM   THE   BEDSIDE  191 

"  Edward,  will  you  please  help  me  upstairs  ? " 

And  thus  the  lame,  irreconcilable  lady  left  the 
room  with  the  assistance  of  her  unhappy  warrior, 
who  must  have  suffered  far  more  keenly  than  I 
did. 

This  departure  left  us  all  in  a  constraint  which 
was  becoming  unbearable  when  the  blessed  door 
bell  rang  and  delivered  us,  and  Miss  Josephine  St. 
Michael  entered  with  John  Mayrant.  He  wore  a 
most  curious  expression;  his  eyes  went  searching 
about  the  room,  and  at  length  settled  upon  Juno 
with  a  light  in  them  as  impish  as  that  which  had 
flickered  in  my  own  mood  before  the  ode. 

To  my  surprise,  Miss  Josephine  advanced  and 
gave  me  a  special  and  marked  greeting.  Before 
this  she  had  always  merely  bowed  to  me ;  to-night 
she  held  out  her  hand.  "  Of  course  my  visit  is 
not  to  you ;  but  I  am  very  glad  to  find  you  here 
and  express  the  appreciation  of  several  of  us  for 
your  timely  aid  to  Daddy  Ben.  He  feels  much 
shame  in  having  said  nothing  to  you  himself." 

And  while  I  muttered  those  inevitable  modest 
nothings  which  fit  such  occasions,  Miss  St.  Michael 
recounted  to  the  bride,  whom  she  was  ostensibly 
calling  upon,  and  to  the  rest  of  our  now  once  more 
harmonious  circle,  my  adventures  in  the  alleys 
of  Africa.  These  loomed,  even  with  Miss  St. 
Michael's  perfectly  quiet  and  simple  rendering  of 
them,  almost  of  heroic  size,  thanks  doubtless  to 
Daddy  Ben's  tropical  imagery  when  he  first  told 
the  tale ;  and  before  they  were  over  Miss  St. 
Michael's  marked  recognition  of  me  actually 
brought  from  Juno  some  reflected  recognition  — 
only  this  resembled  in  its  graciousness  the  origi- 


192  LADY   BALTIMORE 

nal  about  as  correctly  as  a  hollow  spoon  reflects 
the  human  countenance  divine.  Still,  it  was  at 
Juno's  own  request  that  I  brought  down  from  my 
chamber  and  displayed  to  them  the  kettle-sup 
porter. 

I  have  said  that  Miss  St.  Michael's  visit  was 
ostensibly  to  the  bride :  and  that  is  because  for 
some  magnetic  reason  or  other  I  felt  diplo 
macy  like  an  undercurrent  passing  among  our 
chairs.  Young  John's  expression  deepened,  when 
ever  he  watched  Juno,  to  a  devilishness  which  his 
polite  manners  veiled  no  better  than  a  mosquito 
netting;  and  I  believe  that  his  aunt,  on  account 
of  the  battle  between  their  respective  nephews, 
had  for  family  reasons  deemed  it  advisable  to  pay, 
indirectly,  under  cover  of  the  bride,  a  state  visit 
to  Juno;  and  I  think  that  I  saw  Juno  accepting  it 
as  a  state  visit,  and  that  the  two  together,  without 
using  a  word  of  spoken  language,  gave  each  other 
to  understand  that  the  recent  deplorable  circum 
stances  were  a  closed  incident.  I  think  that  his 
Aunt  Josephine  had  desired  young  John  to  pay  a 
visit  likewise,  and,  to  make  sure  of  his  speedy 
compliance,  had  brought  him  along  with  her  — 
coerced  him,  as  Juno  would  have  said.  He  wore 
somewhat  the  look  of  having  been  "  coerced,"  and 
he  contributed  remarkably  few  observations  to  the 
talk. 

It  was  all  harmonious,  and  decorous,  and  prop 
erly  conducted,  this  state  visit;  yet  even  so,  Juno 
and  John  exchanged  at  parting  some  verbal  sweet 
meats  which  rather  stuck  out  from  the  smooth 
meringue  of  diplomacy. 

She  contemplated  his  bruise.     "  You  are  feeling 


"  Miss  St.  Michael's  visit  was  ostensibly  to  the  bride  " 


FROM   THE   BEDSIDE  195 

stronger,  I  hope,  than  you  have  been  lately  ?  A 
bridegroom's  health  should  be  good." 

He  thanked  her.  "  I  am  feeling  better  to-night 
than  for  many  weeks." 

The  rascal  had  the  thirty  dollars  visibly  bulging 
that  moment  in  his  pocket.  I  doubt  if  he  had  ac 
quainted  his  aunt  with  this  episode,  but  she  was 
certain  to  hear  it  soon ;  and  when  she  did  hear  it, 
I  rather  fancy  that  she  wished  to  smile — as  I  com 
pletely  smiled  alone  in  my  bed  that  night  thinking 
young  John  over. 

But  I  did  not  go  to  sleep  smiling;  listening  to 
the  "Ode for  the  Daughters  of  Dixie"  had  been  an 
ordeal  too  truly  painful,  because  it  disclosed  live 
feelings  which  I  had  thought  were  dead,  or  rather, 
it  disclosed  that  those  feelings  smouldered  in  the 
young  as  well  as  in  the  old.  Doctor  Beaugar9on 
didn't  have  them  —  he  had  fought  them  out,  just 
as  Mr.  Brain  tree  had  fought  them  out ;  and  Mrs. 
Braintree,  like  Juno,  retained  them,  because  she 
hadn't  fought  them  out;  and  John  Mayrant didn't 
have  them,  because  he  had  been  to  other  places ; 
and  I  didn't  have  them  —  never  had  had  them  in 
my  life,  because  I  came  into  the  world  when  it 
was  all  over.  Why  then  —  Stop,  I  told  myself, 
growing  very  wakeful,  and  seeing  in  the  darkness 
the  light  which  had  come  to  me,  you  have  beheld 
the  ashes,  and  even  the  sight  has  overwhelmed 
you ;  these  others  were  born  in  the  ashes,  and 
have  had  ashes  to  sleep  in  and  ashes  to  eat.  This 
I  said  to  myself;  and  I  remembered  that  War 
hadn't  been  all ;  that  Reconstruction  came  in  due 
season ;  and  I  thought  qf  the  "  reconstructed  " 
negro,  as  Daddy  Ben  had  so  ingeniously  styled 


196  LADY  BALTIMORE 

him.  These  white  people,  my  race,  had  been 
set  beneath  the  reconstructed  negro.  Still,  still, 
this  did  not  justify  the  whole  of  it  to  me  ;  my  per 
fectly  innocent  generation  seemed  to  be  included 
in  the  unforgiving,  unforgetting  ode.  "  I  must 
have  it  out  with  somebody,"  I  said.  And  in  time 
I  fell  asleep. 


XIII 

THE    GIRL    BEHIND    THE    COUNTER III 

T  WAS  still  thinking  the  ode  over  as  I  dressed 
•*•  for  breakfast,  for  which  I  was  late,  owing  to 
my  hair,  which  the  changes  in  the  weather  had 
rendered  somewhat  recalcitrant.  Yes ;  decidedly 
I  must  have  it  out  with  somebody.  The  weather 
was  once  more  superb  ;  and  in  the  garden  beneath 
my  window  men  were  already  sweeping  away  the 
broken  twigs  and  debris  of  the  storm.  I  say 
"  already,"  because  it  had  not  seemed  to  me  to  be 
the  Kings  Port  custom  to  remove  debris,  or  any 
thing,  with  speed.  I  also  had  it  in  my  mind  to 
perform  at  lunch  Aunt  Carola's  commission,  and 
learn  if  the  family  of  La  Heu  were  indeed  of 
royal  descent  through  the  Bombos.  I  intended 
to  find  this  out  from  the  girl  behind  the  counter, 
but  the  course  which  our  conversation  took  led 
me  completely  to  forget  about  it. 

As  soon  as  I  entered  the  Exchange  I  planted 
myself  in  front  of  the  counter,  in  spite  of  the  dis 
couragement  which  I  too  plainly  perceived  in  her 
countenance  ;  the  unfavorable  impression  which  I 
had  made  upon  her  at  our  last  interview  was  still 
in  force. 

I  plunged  into  it  at  once.  "  I  have  a  confession 
to  make." 

"  You  do  me  surprising  honor." 

197 


198  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  Oh,  now,  don't  begin  like  that !  I  suppose 
you  never  told  a  lie." 

"  I'm  telling  the  truth  now  when  I  say  that  I  do 
not  see  why  an  entire  stranger  should  confess  any 
thing  to  me." 

"  Oh,  my  goodness !  Well,  I  told  you  a  lie, 
anyhow ;  a  great,  successful,  deplorable  lie." 

She  opened  her  mouth  under  the  shock  of  it, 
and  I  recited  to  her  unsparingly  my  deception  ; 
during  this  recital  her  mouth  gradually  closed. 

"  Well,  I  declare,  declare,  declare  !  "  she  slowly 
and  deliciously  breathed  over  the  sum  total ;  and 
she  considered  me  at  length,  silently,  before  her 
words  came  again,  like  a  soft  soliloquy.  "  I  could 
never  have  believed  it  in  one  who  " —  here  gayety 
flashed  in  her  eyes  suddenly  —  "  parts  his  back 
hair  so  rigidly.  Oh,  I  beg  your  pardon  for  being 
personal  !  "  And  her  gayety  broke  in  ripples. 
Some  habitual  instinct  moved  me  to  turn  to  the 
looking-glass.  "  Useless  !  "  she  cried,  "  you  can't 
see  it  in  that.  But  it's  perfectly  splendid  to-day." 

Nature  has  been  kind  to  me  in  many  ways  — 
nay,  prodigal ;  it  is  not  every  man  who  can  per 
ceive  the  humor  in  a  jest  of  which  he  is  himself 
the  subject.  I  laughed  with  her.  "  I  trust  that  I 
am  forgiven,"  I  said. 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  are  forgiven  !  Come  out,  Gen 
eral,  and  give  the  gentleman  your  right  paw,  and 
tell  him  that  he  is  forgiven  —  if  only  for  the  sake 
of  Daddy  Ben."  With  these  latter  words  she  gave 
me  a  gracious  nod  of  understanding.  They  were 
all  thanking  me  for  the  kettle-supporter !  She 
probably  knew  also  the  tale  of  John  Mayrant,  the 
cards,  and  the  bedside. 


THE   GIRL  BEHIND   THE   COUNTER— III     199 

The  curly  dog  came  out,  and  went  through  his 
part  very  graciously. 

"  I  can  guess  his  last  name,"  I  remarked. 

"General's?  How?  Oh,  you've  heard  it!  I 
don't  believe  in  you  any  more." 

"  That's  not  a  bit  handsome,  after  my  confes 
sion.  No,  I'm  getting  to  understand  South  Caro 
lina  a  little.  You  came  from  the  'up-country,' 
you  call  your  dog  General ;  his  name  is  General 
Hampton  !  " 

Her  laughter  assented.  "  Tell  me  some  more 
about  South  Carolina,"  she  added  with  her  caress 
ing  insinuation. 

"  Well,  to  begin  with  —  " 

"  Go  sit  down  at  your  lunch-table  first.  Aunt 
Josephine  would  never  tolerate  my  encouraging 
gentlemen  to  talk  to  me  over  the  counter." 

I  went  back  obediently,  and  then  resumed : 
"  Well,  what  sort  of  people  are  those  who  own 
the  handsome  garden  behind  Mrs.  Trevise's  !  " 

"  I  don't  know  them." 

"  Thank  you ;  that's  all  I  wanted." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?" 

"  They're  new  people.  I  could  tell  it  from  the 
way  you  stuck  your  nose  in  the  air." 

"Sir!" 

"  Oh,  if  you  talk  about  my  hair,  I  can  talk  about 
your  nose,  I  think.  I  suspected  that  they  were 
'  new  people '  because  they  cleaned  up  their  gar 
den  immediately  after  the  storm  this  morning. 
Now,  I'll  tell  you  something  else:  the  whole 
South  looks  down  on  the  whole  North." 

She  made  her  voice  kind.  "  Do  you  mind  it 
very  much  ? " 


200  LADY   BALTIMORE 

I  joined  in  her  latent  mirth.  "  It  makes  life  not 
worth  living!  But  more  than  this,  South  Caro 
lina  looks  down  on  the  whole  South." 

"  Not  Virginia." 

"  Not?  An  '  entire  stranger,'  you  know,  some 
times  notices  things  which  escape  the  family  eye 
—  family  likenesses  in  the  children,  for  instance." 

"  Never  Virginia,"  she  persisted. 

"  Very  well,  very  well !  Somehow  you've  ad 
mitted  the  rest,  however." 

She  began  to  smile. 

"  And  next,  Kings  Port  looks  down  on  all  the 
rest  of  South  Carolina." 

She  now  laughed  outright.  "An  up-country 
girl  will  not  deny  that,  anyhow ! " 

"  And  finally,  your  aunts  —  " 

"  My  aunts  are  Kings  Port." 

"  The  whole  of  it  ?  " 

"  If  you  mean  the  thirty  thousand  negroes  —  " 

"  No,  there  are  other  white  people  here  —  there 
goes  your  nose  again  !  " 

"  I  will  not  have  you  so  impudent,  sir ! " 

"  A  thousand  pardons,  I'm  on  my  knees.  But 
your  aunts  —  " 

There  was  such  a  flash  of  war  in  her  eye  that 
I  stopped. 

"  May  I  not  even  mention  them  ?  "  I  asked  her. 

And  suddenly  upon  this  she  became  serious  and 
gentle.  "  I  thought  that  you  understood  them. 
Would  you  take  them  from  their  seclusion,  too  ? 
It  is  all  they  have  left — •  since  you  burned  the 
rest  in  1865." 

I  had  made  her  say  what  I  wanted !  That  "  you  " 
was  what  I  wanted.  Now  I  should  presently  have 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — III     201 

it  out  with  her.     But,  for  the  moment,  I  did  not 
disclaim  the  "  you."     I  said  :  — 

"  The  burning  in  1865  was  horrible,  but  it  was 


war." 


"  It  was  outrage." 

"  Yes,  the  same  kind  as  England's,  who  burned 
Washington  in  1812,  and  whom  you  all  so  deeply 
admire." 

She  had,  it  seemed,  no  answer  to  this.  But  we 
trembled  on  the  verge  of  a  real  quarrel.  It  was 
in  her  voice  when  she  said  :  — 

"  I  think  I  interrupted  you." 

I  pushed  the  risk  one  step  nearer  the  verge, 
because  of  the  words  I  wished  finally  to  reach. 
"  In  1812,  when  England  burned  our  White 
House  down,  we  did  not  sit  in  the  ashes  ;  we  set 
about  rebuilding." 

And  now  she  burst  out.  "  That's  not  fair,  that's 
perfectly  inexcusable !  Did  England  then  set 
loose  on  us  a  pack  of  black  savages  and  politicians 
to  help  us  rebuild  ?  Why,  this  very  day  I  cannot 
walk  on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  I  dare  not 
venture  off  the  New  Bridge ;  and  you  who 
first  beat  us  and  then  unleashed  the  blacks  to 
riot  in  a  newr  *  equality '  that  they  were  no  more 
fit  for  than  so  many  apes,  you  sat  back  at  ease  in 
your  victory  and  your  progress,  having  handed 
the  vote  to  the  negro  as  you  might  have  handed  a 
kerosene  lamp  to  a  child  of  three,  and  let  us 
crushed,  breathless  people  cope  with  the  chaos 
and  destruction  that  never  came  near  you.  Why, 
how  can  you  dare  — "  Once  again,  admirably, 
she  pulled  herself  up  as  she  had  done  when  she 
spoke  of  the  President.  "I  mustn't!"  she  de- 


202  LADY   BALTIMORE 

clared,  half  whispering,  and  then  more  clearly  and 
calmly,  "  I  mustn't."  And  she  shook  her  head  as 
if  shaking  something  off.  "  Nor  must  you,"  she 
finished,  charmingly  and  quietly,  with  a  smile. 

"  I  will  not,"  I  assured  her.  She  was  truly 
noble. 

"  But  I  did  think  that  you  understood  us,"  she 
said  pensively. 

"  Miss  La  Heu,  when  you  talked  to  me  about 
the  President  and  the  White  House,  I  said  that 
you  were  hard  to  answer.  Do  you  remember  ?  " 

"  Perfectly.     I  said  I  was  glad  you  found  me  so." 

"  You  helped  me  to  understand  you  then,  and 
now  I  want  to  be  helped  to  further  understand 
ing.  Last  night  I  heard  the  '  Ode  for  the 
Daughters  of  Dixie.'  I  had  a  bad  time  listening 
to  that." 

"  Do  you  presume  to  criticise  it  ?  Do  we 
criticise  your  Grand  Army  reunions,  and  your 
'Marching  through  Georgia,'  and  your  'John 
Brown's  Body,'  and  your  Arlington  Museum  ? 
Can  we  not  be  allowed  to  celebrate  our  heroes 
and  our  glories  and  sing  our  songs  ?  " 

She  had  helped  me  already !  Still,  still,  the 
something  I  was  groping  for,  the  something  which 
had  given  me  such  pain  during  the  ode,  remained 
undissolved,  remained  unanalyzed  between  us;  I 
still  had  to  have  it  out  with  her,  and  the  point 
was  that  it  had  to  be  with  her,  and  not  simply 
with  myself  alone.  We  must  thrash  out  together 
the  way  to  an  understanding ;  an  agreement  was 
not  in  the  least  necessary  —  we  could  agree  to 
differ,  for  that  matter,  with  perfect  cordiality  — 
but  an  understanding  we  must  reach.  And  as  I 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — III     203 

was  thinking  this  my  light  increased,  and  I  saw 
clearly  the  ultimate  thing  which  lay  at  the  bottom 
of  my  own  feeling,  and  which  had  been  strangely 
confusing  me  all  along.  This  discovery  was  the 
key  to  the  whole  remainder  of  my  talk ;  I  never 
let  go  of  it.  The  first  thing  it  opened  for  me  was 
that  Eliza  La  Heu  didn't  understand  me,  which 
was  quite  natural,  since  I  had  only  just  this  mo 
ment  become  clear  to  myself. 

"  Many  of  us,"  I  began,  "  who  have  watched  the 
soiling  touch  of  politics  make  dirty  one  clean 
thing  after  another,  would  not  be  wholly  desolated 
to  learn  that  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
had  gone  to  another  world  to  sing  its  songs  and 
draw  its  pensions." 

She  looked  astonished,  and  then  she  laughed. 
Down  in  the  South  here  she  was  too  far  away  to 
feel  the  vile  uses  to  which  present  politics  had 
turned  past  heroism. 

"  But,"  I  continued,  "  we  haven't  any  Daughters 
of  the  Union  banded  together  and  handing  it 
down." 

"  It  ?  "  she  echoed.  "  Well,  if  the  deeds  of  your 
heroes  are  not  a  sacred  trust  to  you,  don't  invite 
us,  please,  to  resemble  you." 

I  waited  for  more,  and  a  little  more  came. 

"  We  consider  Northerners  foreigners,  you 
know." 

Again  I  felt  that  hurt  which  hearing  the  ode 
had  given  me,  but  I  now  knew  how  I  was  going 
to  take  it,  and  where  we  were  presently  coming 
out ;  and  I  knew  she  didn't  mean  quite  all  that 
—  didn't  mean  it  every  day,  at  least  —  and  that 
my  speech  had  driven  her  to  saying  it. 


204  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  No,  Miss  La  Heu ;  you  don't  consider  North 
erners,  who  understand  you,  to  be  foreigners." 

"  We  have  never  met  any  of  that  sort." 

("Yes,"  I  thought,  "but  you  really  want  to. 
Didn't  you  say  you  hoped  I  was  one  ?  Away 
down  deep  there's  a  cry  of  kinship  in  you ;  and 
that  you  don't  hear  it,  and  that  we  don't  hear  it, 
has  been  as  much  our  fault  as  yours.  I  see  that 
very  well  now,  but  I'm  afraid  to  tell  you  so,  yet") 

What  I  said  was :  "  We're  handing  the  '  sacred 
trust '  down,  I  hope." 

"  I  understood  you  to  say  you  weren't." 

"  I  said  we  were  not  handing  '  it '  down." 

I  didn't  wonder  that  irritation  again  moulded  her 
reply.  "  You  must  excuse  a  daughter  of  Dixie  if 
she  finds  the  words  of  a  son  of  the  Union  beyond 
her.  We  haven't  had  so  many  advantages." 

There  she  touched  what  I  had  thought  over 
during  my  wakeful  hours  :  the  tale  of  the  ashes, 
the  desolate  ashes !  The  war  had  not  prevented 
my  parents  from  sending  me  to  school  and  college, 
but  here  the  old  had  seen  the  young  grow  up 
starved  of  what  their  fathers  had  given  them,  and 
the  young  had  looked  to  the  old  and  known  their 
stripped  heritage. 

"  Miss  La  Heu,"  I  said,  "  I  could  not  tell  you, 
you  would  not  wish  me  to  tell  you,  what  the  sight 
of  Kings  Port  has  made  me  feel.  But  you  will 
let  me  say  this  :  I  have  understood  for  a  long 
while  about  your  old  people,  your  old  ladies,  whose 
faces  are  so  fine  and  sad." 

I  paused,  but  she  merely  looked  at  me,  and  her 
eyes  were  hard. 

"  And  I  may  say  this,  too.     I  thank  you  very 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — III     205 

sincerely  for  bringing  completely  home  to  me 
what  I  had  begun  to  make  out  for  myself.  I  hope 
the  Daughters  of  Dixie  will  go  on  singing  of  their 
heroes." 

I  paused  again,  and  now  she  looked  away,  out 
of  the  window  into  Royal  Street. 

"  Perhaps,"  I  still  continued,  "  you  will  hardly 
believe  me  when  I  say  that  I  have  looked  at  your 
monuments  here  with  an  emotion  more  poignant 
even  than  that  which  Northern  monuments  raise 


in  me." 


"  Why  ? " 

"  Oh  !  "  I  exclaimed.  "  Need  you  have  asked 
that?  The  North  won." 

"  You  are  quite  dispassionate! "  Her  eyes  were 
always  toward  the  window. 

"  That's  my  '  sacred  trust.'  " 

It  made  her  look  at  me.     "  Yours  ?  " 

"  Not  yours  —  yet!  It  would  be  yours  if  you 
had  won."  I  thought  a  slight  change  came  in  her 
steady  scrutiny.  "  And,  Miss  La  Heu,  it  was 
awful  about  the  negro.  It  is  awful.  The  young 
North  thinks  so  just  as  much  as  you  do.  Oh,  we 
shock  our  old  people  !  We  don't  expect  them  to 
change,  but  they  mustn't  expect  us  not  to.  And 
even  some  of  them  have  begun  to  whisper  a  little 
doubtfully.  But  never  mind  them  —  here's  the 
negro.  We  can't  kick  him  out.  That  plan  is 
childish.  So,  it's  like  two  men  having  to  live  in 
one  house.  The  white  man  would  keep  the  house 
in  repair,  the  black  would  let  it  rot.  Well,  the 
black  must  take  orders  from  the  white.  And  it 
will  end  so." 

She  was  eager.     "  Slavery  again,  you  think  ?  " 


206  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  Oh,  never!  It  was  too  injurious  to  ourselves. 
But  something  between  slavery  and  equality." 
And  I  ended  with  a  quotation  :  "  *  Patience,  cousin, 
and  shuffle  the  cards.' " 

"You  may  call  me  cousin  —  this  once  —  be 
cause  you  have  been,  really,  quite  nice  —  for  a 
Northerner." 

Now  we  had  come  to  the  place  where  she  must 
understand  me. 

"  Not  a  Northerner,  Miss  La  Heu." 

She  became  mocking.  "  Scarcely  a  Southerner, 
I  presume  ? " 

But  I  kept  my  smile  and  my  directness.  "  No 
more  a  Southerner  than  a  Northerner." 

"  Pray  what,  then  ?  " 

"  An  American." 

She  was  silent. 

"  It's  the  'sacred  trust'  —  for  me." 

She  was  still  silent. 

"  If  my  state  seceded  from  the  Union  to 
morrow,  I  should  side  with  the  Union  against 
her." 

She  was  frankly  astonished  now.  "  Would  you 
really?"  And  I  think  some  light  about  me  be 
gan  to  reach  her.  A  Northerner  willing  to  side 
against  a  Northern  state !  I  was  very  glad  that 
I  had  found  that  phrase  to  make  clear  to  her  my 
American  creed. 

I  proceeded.  "  I  shall  help  to  hand  down  all 
the  glories  and  all  the  sadnesses ;  Lee's,  Lincoln's, 
everybody's.  But  I  shall  not  hand  '  it"  down." 

This  checked  her. 

"  It's  easy  for  me,  you  know,"  I  hastily  explained. 
41  Nothing  noble  about  it  at  all.  But  from  noble 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND  THE   COUNTER  — III     207 

people  "  —  and  I  looked  hard  at  her  —  "  one  ex 
pects,  sooner  or  later,  noble  things." 

She  repressed  something  she  had  been  going 
to  reply. 

"  If  ever  I  have  children,"  I  finished,  "  they 
shall  know  'Dixie'  and  'Yankee  Doodle'  by  heart, 
and  never  know  the  difference.  By  that  time  I 
should  think  they  might  have  a  chance  of  hearing 
<  Yankee  Doodle'  in  Kings  Port." 

Again  she  checked  a  rapid  retort.  "Well," 
she,  after  a  pause,  repeated,  "  you  have  been  really 
quite  nice." 

"  May  I  tell  you  what  you  have  been  ? " 

"  Certainly  not.  Have  you  seen  Mr.  Mayrant 
to-day?" 

"  We  have  an  engagement  to  walk  this  after 
noon.  May  I  go  walking  with  you  sometime?" 

"  May  he,  General  ?  "  A  wagging  tail  knocked 
on  the  floor  behind  the  counter.  "  General  says 
that  he  will  think  about  it.  What  makes  you  like 
Mr.  Mayrant  so  much  ?  " 

This  question  struck  me  as  an  odd  one ;  nor 
could  I  make  out  the  import  of  the  peculiar  tone 
in  which  she  put  it.  "  Why,  I  should  think  every 
body  would  like  him  —  except,  perhaps,  his  double 
victim." 

"Double?" 

"Yes,  first  of  his  fist  and  then  of  —  of  his 
hand  ! " 

But  she  didn't  respond. 

"  Of  his  hand  —  his  poker  hand,"  I  explained. 

"  Poker  hand  ?  "     She  remained  honestly  vague. 

It  rejoiced  me  to  be  the  first  to  tell  her.  "You 
haven't  heard  of  Master  John's  last  performance  ? 


208  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Well,  finding  himself  forced  by  that  immeasurable 
old  Aunt  Josephine  of  yours  to  shake  hands,  he 
shook  'em  all  right,  but  he  took  thirty  dollars 
away  as  a  little  set-off  for  his  pious  docility." 

"  Oh  !  "  she  murmured,  overwhelmed  with  aston 
ishment.  Then  she  broke  into  one  of  her  deli 
cious  peals  of  laughter. 

"  Anybody,"  I  said,  "  likes  a  boy  who  plays  a 
hand  —  and  a  fist  —  to  that  tune."  I  continued 
to  say  a  number  of  commendatory  words  about 
young  John,  while  her  sparkling  eyes  rested  upon 
me.  But  even  as  I  talked  I  grew  aware  that 
these  eyes  were  not  sparkling,  were  starry  rather, 
and  distant,  and  that  she  was  not  hearing  what 
I  said ;  so  I  stopped  abruptly,  and  at  the  stop 
ping  she  spoke,  like  a  person  waking  up. 

"  Oh,  yes !  Certainly  he  can  take  care  of  him 
self.  Why  not  ? " 

"  Rather  creditable,  don't  you  think  ?  " 

"  Creditable  ? " 

"  Considering  his  aunts  and  everything." 

She  became  haughty  on  the  instant.  "  Upon 
my  word !  And  do  you  suppose  the  women  of 
South  Carolina  don't  wish  their  men  to  be  men  ? 
Why"  —  she  returned  to  mirth  and  that  arch 
mockery  which  was  her  special  charm  —  "we 
South  Carolina  women  consider  virtue  our  busi 
ness,  and  we  don't  expect  the  men  to  meddle 
with  it!" 

"  Primal,  perpetual,  necessary ! "  I  cried.  "  When 
that  division  gets  blurred,  society  is  doomed.  Are 
you  sure  John  can  take  care  of  himself  every  way?" 

"  I  have  other  things  than  Mr.  Mayrant  to  think 
about."  She  said  this  quite  sharply. 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — III     209 

It  surprised  me.  "  To  be  sure,"  I  assented. 
u  But  didn't  you  once  tell  me  that  you  thought  he 
was  simple  ? " 

She  opened  her  ledger.  "  It's  a  great  honor  to 
have  one's  words  so  well  remembered." 

I  was  still  at  a  loss.  "Anyhow,  the  wedding  is 
postponed,"  I  continued ;  "  and  the  cake.  Of 
course  one  can't  help  wondering  how  it's  all  com 
ing  out." 

She  was  now  working  at  her  ledger,  bending 
her  head  over  it.  "  Have  you  ever  met  Miss 
Rieppe  ?  "  She  inquired  this  with  a  sort  of  won 
derful  softness  —  which  I  was  to  hear  again  upon 
a  still  more  memorable  occasion. 

"  Never,"  I  answered,  "  but  there's  nobody  at 
present  living  whom  I  long  to  see  so  much." 

She  wrote  on  for  a  little  while  before  saying, 
with  her  pencil  steadily  busy,  "  Why  ? " 

"  Why  ?     Don't  you  ?     After  all  this  fuss  ?  " 

"  Oh,  certainly,"  she  drawled.  "  She  is  so  much 
admired  —  by  Northerners." 

"  I  do  hope  John  is  able  to  take  care  of  himself !  " 
I  purposely  repeated. 

"  Take  care  of  yourself.  I  "  she  laughed  angrily 
over  her  ledger. 

"  Me  ?  Why  ?  I  understand  you  less  and 
less!" 

"  Very  likely." 

"  Why,  I  want  to  help  him  !  "  I  protested.  "  I 
don't  want  him  to  marry  her.  Oh,  by  the  way, 
do  you  happen  to  know  what  it  is  that  she  is 
coming  here  to  see  for  herself  ?  " 

In  a  moment  her  ledger  was  left,  and  she  was 
looking  at  me  straight.  Coming  ?  When  ? 


210  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  Soon.  In  an  automobile.  To  see  something 
for  herself." 

She  pondered  for  quite  a  long  moment ;  then 
her  eyes  returned,  searchingly,  to  me.  "  You 
didn't  make  that  up?" 

I  laughed,  and  explained.  "  Some  of  them,  at 
any  rate,"  I  finished,  "  know  what  she's  coming 
for.  They  were  rather  queer  about  it,  I  thought." 

She  pondered  again.  I  noticed  that  she  had 
deeply  flushed,  and  that  the  flush  was  leaving  her. 
Then  she  fixed  her  eyes  on  me  once  more.  "  They 
wouldn't  tell  you  ?  " 

"  I  think  that  they  came  inadvertently  near  it, 
once  or  twice,  and  remembered  just  in  time  that 
I  didn't  know  about  it." 

"  But  since  you  do  know  pretty  much  about  it !  " 
she  laughed. 

I  shook  my  head.  "  There's  something  else, 
something  that's  turned  up  ;  the  sort  of  thing  that 
upsets  calculations.  And  I  merely  hoped  that 
you'd  know." 

On  those  last  words  of  mine  she  gave  me  quite 
an  extraordinary  look,  and  then,  as  if  satisfied  with 
what  she  saw  in  my  face :  — 

"  They  don't  talk  to  me." 

It  was  an  assurance,  it  was  true,  it  had  the  ring 
of  truth,  that  evident  genuineness  which  a  piece 
of  real  confidence  always  possesses ;  she  meant 
me  to  know  that  we  were  in  the  same  boat  of 
ignorance  to-day.  And  yet,  as  I  rose  from  my 
lunch  and  came  forward  to  settle  for  it,  I  was 
aware  of  some  sense  of  defeat,  of  having  been  held 
off  just  as  the  ladies  on  High  Walk  had  held 
me  off. 


THE   GIRL   BEHIND   THE   COUNTER  — III     211 

"  Well,"  I  sighed,  "  I  pin  my  faith  to  the  aunt 
who  says  he'll  never  marry  her." 

Miss  La  Heu  had  no  more  to  say  upon  the 
subject.  "  Haven't  you  forgotten  something  ?  " 
she  inquired  gayly ;  and,  as  I  turned  to  see  what 
I  had  left  behind  —  "I  mean,  you  had  no  Lady 
Baltimore  to-day." 

"  I  clean  forgot  it !  " 

"  No  loss.  It  is  very  stale  ;  and  to-morrow  I 
shall  have  a  fresh  supply  ready." 

As  I  departed  through  the  door  I  was  conscious 
of  her  eyes  following  me,  and  that  she  had  spoken 
of  Lady  Baltimore  precisely  because  she  was  think 
ing  of  something  else. 


XIV 

THE    REPLACERS 

Q  H  E  had  been  strange,  perceptibly  strange,  had 
Eliza  La  Heu ;  that  was  the  most  which  I 
could  make  out  of  it.  I  had  angered  her  in  some 
manner  wholly  beyond  my  intention  or  understand 
ing  and  not  all  at  one  fixed  point  in  our  talk ;  her 
irritation  had  come  out  and  gone  in  again  in  spots 
all  along  the  colloquy,  and  it  had  been  a  displeas 
ure  wholly  apart  from  that  indignation  which  had 
flashed  up  in  her  over  the  negro  question.  This, 
indeed,  I  understood  well  enough,  and  admired 
her  for,  and  admired  still  more  her  gallant  control 
of  it ;  as  for  the  other,  I  gave  it  up. 

A  sense  of  guilt  —  a  very  slight  one,  to  be  sure 
—  dispersed  my  speculations  when  I  was  prepar 
ing  for  dinner,  and  Aunt  Carola's  postscript,  open 
upon  my  writing-table,  reminded  me  that  I  had 
never  asked  Miss  La  Heu  about  the  Bombos. 
Well,  the  Bombos  could  keep !  And  I  descended 
to  dinner  a  little  late  (as  too  often)  to  feel  instantly 
in  the  air  that  they  had  been  talking  about  me. 
I  doubt  if  any  company  in  the  world,  from  the 
Greeks  down  through  Machiavelli  to  the  present 
moment,  has  ever  been  of  a  subtlety  adequate  to 
conceal  from  an  observant  person  entering  a  room 
the  fact  that  he  has  been  the  subject  of  their  con- 


212 


THE   REPLACERS  213 

versation.  This- company,  at  any  rate,  did  not 
conceal  it  from  me.  Not  even  when  the  up- 
country  bride  astutely  greeted  me  with  :  — 

"  Why,  we  were  just  speaking  of  you !  We 
were  just  saying  it  would  be  a  perfect  shame  if 
you  missed  those  flowers  at  Live  Oaks."  And,  at 
this,  various  of  the  guests  assured  me  that  another 
storm  would  finish  them ;  upon  which  I  assured 
every  one  that  to-morrow  should  see  me  embark 
upon  the  Live  Oaks  excursion  boat,  knowing 
quite  well  in  my  heart  that  some  decidedly  differ 
ent  question  concerning  me  had  been  hastily 
dropped  upon  my  appearance  at  the  door.  It 
poked  up  its  little  concealed  head,  did  this  ques 
tion,  when  the  bride  said  later  to  me,  with  im 
mense  archness :  — 

"  How  any  gentleman  can  help  falling  just  daid 
in  love  with  that  lovely  young  girl  at  the  Exchange, 
I  don't  see  !  " 

"  But  I  haven't  helped  it !  "  I  immediately  ex 
claimed. 

"  Oh ! "  declared  the  bride  with  unerring  per 
ception,  "that  just  shows  he  hasn't  been  smitten 
at  all !  Well,  I'd  be  ashamed,  if  I  was  a  single 
gentleman."  And  while  I  brought  forth  addi 
tional  phrases  concerning  the  distracted  state  of 
my  heart,  she  looked  at  me  with  large,  limpid 
eyes.  "  Anybody  could  tell  you're  not  afraid  of  a 
rival,"  was  her  resulting  comment;  upon  which 
several  of  the  et  ceteras  laughed  more  than  seemed 
to  me  appropriate. 

I  left  them  all  free  again  to  say  what  they 
pleased ;  for  John  Mayrant  called  for  me  to  go 
upon  our  walk  while  we  were  still  seated  at  table, 


214  LADY  BALTIMORE 

and  at  table  they  remained  after  I  had  excused 
myself. 

The  bruise  over  John's  left  eye  was  fading  out, 
but  traces  of  his  spiritual  battle  were  deepening. 
During  the  visit  which  he  had  paid  (under  com 
pulsion,  I  am  sure)  to  Juno  at  our  boarding-house 
in  company  with  Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael,  his 
recent  financial  triumph  at  the  bedside  had  filled 
his  face  with  diabolic  elation  as  he  confronted  his 
victim's  enraged  but  checkmated  aunt ;  when  to 
the  thinly  veiled  venom  of  her  inquiry  as  to  a 
bridegroom's  health  he  had  retorted  with  venom 
as  thinly  veiled  that  he  was  feeling  better  that 
night  than  for  many  weeks,  he  had  looked  better, 
too ;  the  ladies  had  exclaimed  after  his  departure 
what  a  handsome  young  man  he  was,  and  Juno 
had  remarked  how  fervently  she  trusted  that  mar 
riage  might  cure  him  of  his  deplorable  tendencies. 
But  to-day  his  vitality  had  sagged  off  beneath  the 
weight  of  his  preoccupation :  it  looked  to  me  as 
if,  by  a  day  or  two  more,  the  boy's  face  might  be 
grown  haggard. 

Whether  by  intention,  or,  as  is  more  likely,  by 
the  perfectly  natural  and  spontaneous  working  of 
his  nature,  he  speedily  made  it  plain  to  me  that 
our  relation,  our  acquaintance,  had  progressed  to 
a  stage  more  friendly  and  confidential.  He  did 
not  reveal  this  by  imparting  any  confidence  to  me ; 
far  from  it ;  it  was  his  silence  that  indicated  the 
ease  he  had  come  to  feel  in  my  company.  Upon 
our  last  memorable  interview  he  had  embarked  at 
once  upon  a  hasty  yet  evidently  predetermined 
course  of  talk,  because  he  feared  that  I  might 
touch  upon  subjects  which  he  wished  excluded 


THE   REPLACERS  215 

from  all  discussion  between  us ;  to-day  he  em 
barked  upon  nothing,  made  no  conventional  effort 
of  any  sort,  but  walked  beside  me,  content  with 
my  mere  society ;  if  it  should  happen  that  either 
of  us  found  a  thought  worth  expressing  aloud, 
good !  and  if  this  should  not  happen,  why,  good 
also !  And  so  we  walked  mutely  and  agreeably 
together  for  a  long  while.  The  thought  which 
was  growing  clear  in  my  mind,  and  which  was 
decidedly  worthy  of  expression,  was  also  unluckily 
one  which  his  new  reliance  upon  my  discretion 
completely  forbade  my  uttering  in  even  the  most 
shadowy  manner;  but  it  was  a  conviction  which 
Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael  should  have  been 
quick  to  force  upon  him  for  his  good.  Quite 
apart  from  selfish  reasons,  he  had  no  right  to 
marry  a  girl  whom  he  had  ceased  to  care  for. 
The  code  which  held  a  "  gentleman "  to  his 
plighted  troth  in  such  a  case  did  more  injury  to 
the  "lady"  than  any  "jilting"  could  possibly  do. 
Never  until  now  had  I  thought  this  out  so  lucidly, 
and  I  was  determined  that  time  and  my  own  tact 
should  assuredly  help  me  find  a  way  to  say  it  to 
him,  if  he  continued  in  his  present  course. 

"  Daddy  Ben  says  you  can't  be  a  real  Northerner." 

This  was  his  first  observation,  and  I  think  that 
we  must  have  walked  a  mile  before  he  made  it. 

"  Because  I  pounded  a  negro  ?  Of  course,  he 
retains  your  Southern  ante-bellum  mythical  notion 
of  Northerners  —  all  of  us  willing  to  have  them 
marry  our  sisters.  Well,  there's  a  lady  at  our 
boarding-house  who  says  you  are  a  real  gambler." 

The  impish  look  came  curling  round  his  lips, 
but  for  a  moment  only,  and  it  was  gone. 


216  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  That  shook  Daddy  Ben  up  a  good  deal." 
"  Having  his  grandson  do  it,  do  you  mean  ?  " 
"  Oh,  he's  used  to  his  grandson  !  Grandsons  in 
that  race  might  just  as  well  be  dogs  for  all  they 
know  or  care  about  their  progenitors.  Yet  Daddy 
Ben  spent  his  savings  on  educating  Charles  Cotes- 
worth  and  two  more  —  but  not  one  of  them  will 
give  the  old  man  a  house  to-day.  If  ever  I  have 
a  home  —  "  John  stopped  himself,  and  our  silence 
was  no  longer  easy;  our  unspoken  thoughts  looked 
out  of  our  eyes  so  that  they  could  not  meet.  Yet 
no  one,  unless  directly  invited  by  him,  had  the 
right  to  say  to  him  what  I  was  thinking,  except 
some  near  relative.  Therefore,  to  relieve  this 
silence  which  had  ceased  to  be  agreeable,  I 
talked  about  Daddy  Ben  and  his  grandsons,  and 
negro  voting,  and  the  huge  lie  of  "  equality  "  which 
our  lips  vociferate  and  our  lives  daily  disprove. 
This  took  us  comfortably  away  from  weddings 
and  cakes  into  the  subject  of  lynching,  my  violent 
condemnation  of  which  surprised  him;  for  our 
discussion  had  led  us  over  a  wide  field,  and  one 
fertile  in  well-known  disputes  of  the  evergreen  sort, 
conducted  by  the  North  mostly  with  more  theory 
than  experience,  and  by  the  South  mostly  with 
more  heat  than  light ;  whereas,  between  John  and 
me,  I  may  say  that  our  amiability  was  surpassed 
only  by  our  intelligence !  Each  allowed  for  the 
other's  standpoint,  and  both  met  in  many  views : 
he  would  have  voted  against  the  last  national 
Democratic  ticket  but  for  the  Republican  upholding 
of  negro  equality,  while  I  assured  him  that  such 
stupid  and  criminal  upholding  was  on  the  wane. 
He  informed  me  that  he  did  not  believe  the  pure- 


THE   REPLACERS  217 

blooded  African  would  ever  be  capable  of  taking 
the  intellectual  side  of  the  white  man's  civilization, 
and  I  informed  him  that  we  must  patiently  face 
this  probability,  and  teach  the  African  whatever 
he  could  profitably  learn  and  no  more ;  and  each 
of  us  agreed  with  the  other.  I  think  that  we  were 
at  one,  save  for  the  fact  that  I  was,  after  all,  a 
Northerner  —  and  that  is  a  blemish  which  nobody 
in  Kings  Port  can  quite  get  over.  John,  there 
fore,  was  unprepared  for  my  wholesale  denuncia 
tion  of  lynching. 

"  With  your  clear  view  of  the  negro,"  he 
explained. 

"  My  dear  man,  it's  my  clear  view  of  the  white ! 
It's  the  white,  the  American  citizen,  the  '  hope  of 
humanity,'  as  he  enjoys  being  called,  who,  after 
our  English-speaking  race  has  abolished  public 
executions,  degenerates  back  to  the  Stone  Age. 
It's  upon  him  that  lynching  works  the  true  injury." 

"  They're  nothing  but  animals,"  he  muttered. 

"  Would  you  treat  an  animal  in  that  way  ? "  I 
inquired. 

He  persisted.  "  You'd  do  it  yourself  if  you  had 
to  suffer  from  them." 

"  Very  probably.  Is  that  an  answer  ?  What 
I'd  never  do  would  be  to  make  a  show,  an  enter 
tainment,  a  circus,  out  of  it,  run  excursion  trains 
to  see  it  —  come,  should  you  like  your  sister  to 
buy  tickets  for  a  lynching  ?  " 

This  brought  him  up  rather  short.  "  I  should 
never  take  part  myself,"  he  presently  stated,  "  un 
less  it  were  immediate  personal  vengeance." 

"  Few  brothers  or  husbands  would  blame  you  ! " 
I  returned.  "  It  would  be  hard  to  wait  for  the 


218  LADY   BALTIMORE 

law.  But  let  no  community  which  treats  it  as  a 
public  spectacle  presume  to  call  itself  civilized." 

He  gave  a  perplexed  smile,  shaking  his  head 
over  it.  "  Sometimes  I  think  civilization  costs  —  " 

"  Civilization  costs  all  you've  got !  "  I  cried. 

"  More  than  I've  got !  "  he  declared.  "  I'm  mortal 
tired  of  civilization." 

"  Ah,  yes !  What  male  creature  is  not  ?  And 
neither  of  us  will  live  quite  long  enough  to  see  the 
smash-up  of  our  own." 

"  Aren't  you  sometimes  inconsistent  ?  "  he  in 
quired,  laughing. 

"  I  hope  so,"  I  returned.  "  Consistency  is  a 
form  of  death.  The  dead  are  the  only  perfectly 
consistent  people." 

"  And  sometimes  you  sound  like  a  Socialist,"  he 
pursued,  still  laughing. 

"  Never !  "  I  shouted.  "  Don't  class  me  with 
those  untrained  puppies  of  thought.  And  you'll 
generally  observe,"  I  added,  "  that  the  more  nobly 
a  Socialist  vaporizes  about  the  rights  of  humanity, 
the  more  wives  and  children  he  has  abandoned 
penniless  along  the  trail  of  his  life." 

He  was  livelier  than  ever  at  this.  "  What  date 
have  you  fixed  for  the  smash-up  of  our  present 
civilization  ? " 

"  Why  fix  dates  ?  Is  it  not  diversion  enough 
to  watch,  and  step  handsomely  through  one's  own 
part,  with  always  a  good  sleeve  to  laugh  in  ?  " 

Pensiveness  returned  upon  him.  "  I  shall  be 
able  to  step  through  my  own  part,  I  think."  He 
paused,  and  I  was  wondering  secretly,  "  Does 
that  include  the  wedding  ?  "  when  he  continued : 
"  What's  there  to  laugh  at  ?  " 


THE   REPLACERS  219 

"  Why,  our  imperishable  selves!  For  instance  : 
we  swear  by  universal  suffrage.  Well,  sows'  ears 
are  an  invaluable  thing  in  their  place,  on  the  head 
of  the  animal ;  but  send  them  to  make  your  laws, 
and  what  happens  ?  Bribery,  naturally.  The  silk 
purse  buys  the  sow's  ear.  We  swear  by  Chris 
tianity,  but  dishonesty  is  our  present  religion. 
That  little  phrase  'In  God  We  Trust'  is  about 
as  true  as  the  silver  dollar  it's  stamped  on  —  worth 
some  thirty-nine  cents.  We  get  awfully  serious 
about  whether  or  no  good  can  come  of  evil,  when 
every  sky-scraping  thief  of  finance  is  helping  hos 
pitals  with  one  hand  while  the  other's  in  my 
pocket ;  and  good  and  evil  attend  each  other,  lead 
to  each  other,  are  such  Siamese  twins  that  if 
separated  they  would  both  die.  We  make  phrases 
about  peace,  pity,  and  brotherhood,  while  every 
nation  stands  prepared  for  shipwreck  and  for  the 
sinking  plank  to  which  two  are  clinging  and  the 
stronger  pushes  the  weaker  into  the  flood  and 
thus  floats  safe.  WThy,  the  old  apple  of  wisdom, 
which  Adam  and  Eve  swallowed  and  thus  lost 
their  innocence,  was  a  gentle  nursery  drug  com 
pared  with  the  new  apple  of  competition,  which, 
as  soon  as  chewed,  instantly  transforms  the  heart 
into  a  second  brain.  But  why  worry,  when  noth 
ing  is  final?  Haven't  you  and  I,  for  instance, 
lamented  the  present  rottenness  of  smart  society  ? 
Why,  when  kings  by  the  name  of  George  sat  on 
the  throne  of  England,  society  was  just  as  drunken, 
just  as  dissolute!  Then  a  decent  queen  came, 
and  society  behaved  itself ;  and  now,  here  we  come 
round  again  to  the  Georges,  only  with  the  name 
changed  !  There's  nothing  final.  So,  when  things 


220  LADY   BALTIMORE 

are  as  you  don't  like  them,  remember  that  and 
bear  them;  and  when  they're  as  you  do  like  them, 
remember  it  and  make  the  most  of  them  —  and 
keep  a  good  sleeve  handy ! " 

"  Have  you  got  any  creed  at  all  ? "  he  de 
manded. 

"  Certainly ;  but  I  don't  live  up  to  it." 

"  That's  not  expected.     May  I  ask  what  it  is  ?  " 

"  It's  in  Latin." 

"  Well,  I  can  probably  bear  it.  Aunt  Eliza  had 
a  classical  tutor  for  me." 

I  always  relish  a  chance  to  recite  my  favorite 
poet,  and  I  began  accordingly :  — 

"  Laetus  in  prsesens  animus  quod  ultra  est 
Oderit  curare  et  —  " 

"  I  know  that  one ! "  he  exclaimed,  interrupting 
me.  "  The  tutor  made  me  put  it  into  English 
verse.  I  had  the  severest  sort  of  a  time.  I  ran 
away  from  it  twice  to  a  deer-hunt."  And  he,  in 
his  turn,  recited  :  — 

"  Who  hails  each  present  hour  with  zest 
Hates  fretting  what  may  be  the  rest, 
Makes  bitter  sweet  with  lazy  jest ; 
Naught  is  in  every  portion  blest." 

I  complimented  him,  in  spite  of  my  slight 
annoyance  at  being  deprived  by  him  of  the  chance 
to  declaim  Latin  poetry,  which  is  an  exercise  that 
I  approve  and  enjoy;  but  of  course,  to  go  on  with 
it,  after  he  had  intervened  with  his  translation, 
would  have  been  flat. 

"  You  have  written  good  English,  and  very 
close  to  the  Latin,  too,"  I  told  him,  "  particularly 
in  the  last  line."  And  I  picked  up  from  the  bridge 


THE   REPLACERS 


221 


I 


which  we  were  crossing,  an  oyster-shell,  and  sent 
it  skimming  over  the  smooth  water  that  stretched 
between  the  low  shores,  wide,  blue,  and  vacant. 


222  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  I  suppose  you  wonder  why  we  call  this  the 
New  Bridge,' "  he  remarked. 

"  I  did  wonder  when  I  first  came,"  I  replied. 

He  smiled.     "  You're  getting  used  to  us  !  " 

This  long  structure  wore,  in  truth,  no  appear 
ance  of  yesterday.  It  was  newer  than  the  "  New 
Bridge  "  which  it  had  replaced  some  fifteen  years 
ago,  and  which  for  forty  years  had  borne  the  same 
title.  Spanning  the  broad  river  upon  a  legion  of 
piles,  this  wooden  causeway  lies  low  against  the 
face  of  the  water,  joining  the  town  with  a  serene 
and  pensive  country  of  pines  and  live  oaks  and 
level  opens,  where  glimpses  of  cabin  and  planta 
tion  serve  to  increase  the  silence  and  the  soft, 
mysterious  loneliness.  Into  this  the  road  from 
the  bridge  goes  straight  and  among  the  purple 
vagueness  gently  dissolves  away. 

We  watched  a  slow,  deep-laden  boat  sliding 
down  toward  the  draw,  across  which  we  made  our 
way,  and  drew  near  the  further  end  of  the  bridge. 
The  straight  avenue  of  the  road  in  front  of  us  took 
my  eyes  down  its  quiet  vista,  until  they  were  fixed 
suddenly  by  an  alien  object,  a  growing  dot,  accom 
panied  by  dust,  whence  came  the  small,  distorted 
honks  of  an  automobile.  These  fat,  importunate 
sounds  redoubled  as  the  machine  rushed  toward 
the  bridge,  growing  up  to  its  full  staring,  brazen 
dimensions.  Six  or  seven  figures  sat  in  it,  all  of 
the  same  dusty,  shrouded  likeness,  their  big  glass 
eyes  and  their  masked  mouths  suggesting  some 
fabled,  unearthly  race,  a  family  of  replete  and  bil 
ious  ogres ;  so  that  as  they  flew  honking  by  us  I 
called  out  to  John  :  — 

"  Behold  the  yellow  rich ! "   and  then  remem- 


THE  REPLACERS  223 

bered  that  his  Hortense  probably  sat  among 
them. 

The  honks  redoubled,  and  we  turned  to  see 
that  the  drawbridge  had  no  thought  of  waiting  for 
them.  We  also  saw  a  bewildered  curly  white  dog 
and  a  young  girl,  who  called  despairingly  to  him 
as  he  disappeared  beneath  the  automobile.  The 
engine  of  murder  could  not,  as  is  usual,  proceed 
upon  its  way,  honking,  for  the  drawbridge  was 
visibly  swinging  open  to  admit  the  passage  of  the 
boat.  When  John  and  I  had  run  back  near 
enough  to  become  ourselves  a  part  of  the  incident, 
the  white  dog  lay  still  behind  the  stationary  auto 
mobile,  whose  passengers  were  craning  their  muf 
fled  necks  and  glass  eyes  to  see  what  they  had 
done,  while  one  of  their  number  had  got  out,  and 
was  stooping  to  examine  if  the  machine  had  sus 
tained  any  injuries.  The  young  girl,  with  a  face 
of  anguish,  was  calling  the  dog's  name  as  she  has 
tened  toward  him,  and  her  voice  aroused  him:  he 
lifted  his  head,  got  on  his  legs,  and  walked  over 
to  her,  which  action  on  his  part  brought  from  the 
automobile  a  penetrating  female  voice  :  — 

"  Well,  he's  in  better  luck  than  that  Savannah 
dog ! " 

But  General  was  not  in  luck.  He  lay  quietly 
down  at  the  feet  of  his  mistress  and  we  soon  knew 
that  life  had  passed  from  his  faithful  body.  The 
first  stroke  of  grief,  dealt  her  in  such  cruel  and 
sudden  form,  overbore  the  poor  girl's  pride  and 
reserve ;  she  made  no  attempt  to  remember  or 
heed  surroundings,  but  kneeling  and  placing  her 
arms  about  the  neck  of  her  dead  servant,  she  spoke 
piteously  aloud:  — 


224  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"And  I  raised  him,  I  raised  him  from  a 
puppy ! " 

The  female  voice,  at  this,  addressed  the  traveller 
who  was  examining  the  automobile :  "  Charley, 
a  five  or  a  ten  spot  is  what  her  feelings  need." 

The  obedient  and  munificent  Charley  straight 
ened  up  from  his  stooping  among  the  mechanical 
entrails,  dexterously  produced  money,  and  ad 
vanced  with  the  selected  bill  held  out  politely  in 
his  hand,  while  the  glass  eyes  and  the  masks  peered 
down  at  the  performance.  Eliza  La  Heu  had 
perceived  none  of  this,  for  she  was  intent  upon 
General ;  nor  had  John  Mayrant,  who  had  ap 
proached  her  with  the  purpose  of  coming  to  her 
aid.  But  when  Charley,  quite  at  hand,  began  to 
speak  words  which  were  instantly  obliterated  from 
my  memory  by  what  happened,  the  young  girl 
realized  his  intention  and  straightened  stiffly,  while 
John,  with  the  rapidity  of  light,  snatched  the  ex 
tended  bill  from  Charley's  hand,  and  tearing  it  in 
four  pieces,  threw  it  in  his  face. 

A  foreign  voice  cackled  from  the  automobile: 
"  Oh  la  la !  il  a  du  panache  !  " 

But  Charley  now  disclosed  himself  to  be  a  true 
man  of  the  world  —  the  financial  world  —  by 
picking  the  pieces  out  of  the  mud;  and,  while  he 
wiped  them  and  enclosed  them  in  his  handkerchief 
and  with  perfect  dignity  returned  them  to  his 
pocket,  he  remarked  simply,  with  a  shrug :  "  As 
you  please."  His  accent  also  was  ever  so  little 
foreign  —  that  New  York  downtown  foreign,  of 
the  second  generation,  which  stamps  so  many  of 
our  bankers. 

The   female   now   leaned   from    her   seat,  and 


THE   REPLACERS  225 

with  the  tone  of  setting  the  whole  thing  right,  ex 
plained  :  "  We  had  no  idea  it  was  a  lady." 

"  Doubtless  you're  not  accustomed  to  their 
appearance,"  said  John  to  Charley. 

I  don't  know  what  Charley  would  have  done 
about  this ;  for  while  the  completely  foreign 
voice  was  delightedly  whispering,  "  Toujours  le 
panache ! "  a  new,  deep,  and  altogether  different 
female  voice  exclaimed  :  — 

"Why,  John,  it's  you!" 

So  that  was  Hortense,  then  !  That  rich  and 
quiet  utterance  was  hers,  a  schooled  and  studied 
management  of  speech.  I  found  myself  surprised, 
and  I  knew  directly  why ;  that  word  of  one  of  the 
old  ladies,  "  I  consider  that  she  looks  like  a  steel 
wasp,"  had  implanted  in  me  some  definite  antici 
pations  to  which  the  voice  certainly  did  not  cor 
respond.  How  fervently  I  desired  that  she 
would  lift  her  thick  veil,  while  John,  with  hat  in 
hand,  was  greeting  her,  and  being  presented  to 
her  companions !  Why  she  had  not  spoken  to 
John  sooner  was  of  course  a  recondite  question, 
and  beyond  my  power  to  determine  with  merely 
the  given  situation  to  guide  me.  Hadn't  she 
recognized  him  before  ?  Had  her  thick  veil,  and 
his  position,  and  the  general  slight  flurry  of  the 
misadventure,  intercepted  recognition  until  she 
heard  his  voice  when  he  addressed  Charley  ?  Or 
had  she  known  her  lover  at  once,  and  rapidly 
decided  that  the  moment  was  an  unpropitious 
one  for  a  first  meeting  after  absence,  and  that  she 
would  pass  on  to  Kings  Port  unrevealed,  but  then 
had  found  this  plan  become  impossible  through 
the  collision  between  Charley  and  John  ?  It  was 


226  LADY   BALTIMORE 

not  until  certain  incidents  of  the  days  following 
brought  Miss  Rieppe's  nature  a  good  deal  further 
home  to  me,  that  a  third  interpretation  of  her 
delay  in  speaking  to  John  dawned  upon  my  mind ; 
that  I  was  also  made  aware  how  a  woman's  under 
standing  of  the  words  "  Steel  wasp,"  when  applied 
by  her  to  one  of  her  own  sex,  may  differ  widely 
from  a  man's  understanding  of  them;  and  that 
Miss  Rieppe,  through  her  thick  veil,  saw  from  her 
seat  in  the  automobile  something  which  my  own 
unencumbered  vision  had  by  no  means  detected. 

But  now,  here  on  the  bridge,  even  her  outward 
appearance  was  as  shrouded  as  her  inward  quali 
ties  —  save  such  as  might  be  audible  in  that  voice, 
as  her  skilful,  well-placed  speeches  to  one  and 
the  other  of  the  company  tided  over  and  carried 
off  into  ease  this  uneasy  moment.  All  men,  at 
such  a  voice,  have  pricked  up  their  ears  since  the 
beginning ;  there  was  much  woman  in  it ;  each 
slow,  schooled  syllable  called  its  challenge  to 
questing  man.  But  I  got  no  chance  to  look  in 
the  eye  that  went  with  that  voice;  she  took  all 
the  advantages  which  her  veil  gave  her ;  and  how 
well  she  used  them  I  was  to  learn  later. 

In  the  general  smoothing-out  process  which  she 
was  so  capably  effecting,  her  attention  was  about  to 
reach  me,  when  my  name  was  suddenly  called  out 
from  behind  her.  It  was  Beverly  Rodgers,  that 
accomplished  and  inveterate  bachelor  of  fashion. 
Ten  years  before,  when  I  had  seen  much  of  him, 
he  had  been  more  particular  in  his  company,  fre 
quently  declaring  in  his  genial,  irresponsible  way 
that  New  York  society  was  going  to  the  devil. 
But  many  tempting  dances  on  the  land,  and  cruises 


THE   REPLACERS  227 

on  the  water,  had  taken  him  deep  among  our 
lower  classes  that  have  boiled  up  from  the  bottom 
with  their  millions  —  and  besides,  there  would  be 
nothing  to  marvel  at  in  Beverly's  presence  in  any 
company  that  should  include  Hortense  Rieppe,  if 
she  carried  out  the  promise  of  her  voice. 

Beverly  was  his  customary,  charming,  effusive 
self,  coming  out  of  the  automobile  to  me  with  his 
"  By  Jove,  old  man,"  and  his  "  Who'd  have  thought 
it,  old  fellow?"  and  sprinkling  urbane  little  drops 
of  jocosity  over  us  collectively,  as  the  garden 
water-turning  apparatus  sprinkles  a  lawn.  His 
knowing  me,  and  the  way  he  brought  it  out,  and 
even  the  tumbling  into  the  road  of  a  few  wraps 
and  chattels  of  travel  as  he  descended  from  the 
automobile,  and  the  necessity  of  picking  these  up 
and  handing  them  back  with  delightful  little 
jocular  apologies,  such  as,  "  By  Jove,  what  a  lout  I 
am,"  all  this  helped  the  meeting  on  prodigiously, 
and  got  us  gratefully  away  from  the  disconcert 
ing  incident  of  the  torn  money.  Charley  was 
helpful,  too  ;  you  would  never  have  supposed  from 
the  polite  small-talk  which  he  was  now  offering  to 
John  Mayrant  that  he  had  within  some  three 
minutes  received  the  equivalent  of  a  slap  across 
the  eyes  from  that  youth,  and  carried  the  soiled 
consequences  in  his  pocket.  And  such  a  thing  is 
it  to  be  a  true  man  of  the  world  of  finance,  that 
upon  the  arrival  now  of  a  second  automobile,  also 
his  property,  and  containing  a  set  of  maids  and 
valets,  and  also  some  live  dogs  sitting  up,  covered 
with  glass  eyes  and  wrappings  like  their  owners, 
munificent  Charley  at  once  offered  the  dead  dog 
and  his  mistress  a  place  in  it,  and  begged  she 


228  LADY   BALTIMORE 

would  let  it  take  her  wherever  she  wished  to  go. 
Everybody  exclaimed  copiously  and  condolingly 
over  the  unfortunate  occurrence.  What  a  fine 
animal  he  was,  to  be  sure !  What  breed  was  he  ? 
Of  course,  he  wasn't  used  to  automobiles !  Was 
it  quite  certain  that  he  was  dead  ?  Quel  dom- 
mage !  And  Charley  would  be  so  happy  to  re 
place  him. 

And  how  was  Eliza  La  Heu  bearing  herself 
amid  these  murmurously  chattered  infelicities  ? 
She  was  listening  with  composure  to  the  murmurs 
of  Hortense  Rieppe,  more  felicitous,  no  doubt. 
Miss  Rieppe,  through  her  veil,  was  particularly 
devoting  herself  to  Miss  La  Heu.  I  could  not 
hear  what  she  said;  the  little  chorus  of  condolence 
and  suggestion  intercepted  all  save  her  tone,  and 
that,  indeed,  coherently  sustained  its  measured 
cadence  through  the  texture  of  fragments  uttered 
by  Charley  and  the  others.  Eliza  La  Heu  had 
now  got  herself  altogether  in  hand,  and,  saving 
her  pale  cheeks,  no  sign  betrayed  that  the  young 
girl's  feelings  had  been  so  recently  too  strong  for 
her.  To  these  strangers,  ignorant  of  her  usual 
manner,  her  present  strange  quietness  may  very 
well  have  been  accepted  as  her  habit. 

"  Thank  you, "she  replied  to  munificent  Charley's 
offer  that  she  would  use  his  second  automobile. 
She  managed  to  make  her  polite  words  cut  like  a 
scythe.  "  I  should  crowd  it." 

"  But  they  shall  get  out  and  walk ;  it  will  be 
good  for  them,"  said  Charley,  indicating  the  valets 
and  maids,  and  possibly  the  dogs,  too. 

Beverly  Rodgers  did  much  better  than  Charley. 
With  a  charming  gesture  and  bow,  he  offered  his 


THE   REPLACERS  229 

own  seat  in  the  first  automobile.  "  I  am  going 
to  walk  in  any  case,"  he  assured  her. 

"  One  gentleman  among  them,"  I  heard  John 
Mayrant  mutter  behind  me. 

Miss  La  Heu  declined,  the  chorus  urged,  but 
Beverly  (who  was  indeed  a  gentleman,  every  inch 
of  him)  shook  his  head  imperceptibly  at  Charley ; 
and  while  the  little  exclamations  —  "  Do  come  ! 
So  much  more  comfortable !  So  nice  to  see  more 
of  you!"  —  dropped  away,  Miss  La  Heu  had  set 
tled  her  problem  quite  simply  for  herself.  A  little 
procession  of  vehicles,  townward  bound,  had  gath 
ered  on  the  bridge,  waiting  until  the  closing  of  the 
draw  should  allow  them  to  continue  upon  their 
way.  From  these  most  of  the  occupants  had  de 
scended,  and  were  staring  with  avidity  at  us  all ; 
the  great  glass  eyes  and  the  great  refulgent  cars 
held  them  in  timidity  and  fascination,  and  the 
poor  lifeless  white  body  of  General,  stretched 
beside  the  way,  heightened  the  hypnotic  mystery ; 
one  or  two  of  the  boldest  had  touched  him,  and 
found  no  outward  injury  upon  him  ;  and  this  had 
sent  their  eyes  back  to  the  automobile  with  in 
creased  awe.  Eliza  La  Heu  summoned  one  of 
the  onlookers,  an  old  negro ;  at  some  word  she 
said  to  him  he  hurried  back  and  returned,  leading 
his  horse  and  empty  cart,  and  General  was  lifted 
into  this.  The  girl  took  her  seat  beside  the  old 
driver. 

"No,"  she  said  to  John  Mayrant,  "certainly 
not" 

I  wondered  at  the  needless  severity  with  which 
she  declined  his  offer  to  accompany  her  and  help 
her. 


230  LADY  BALTIMORE 

He  stood  by  the  wheel  of  the  cart,  looking  up 
at  her  and  protesting,  and  I  joined  him. 

"  Thank  you,"  she  returned,  "  I  need  no  one. 
You  will  both  oblige  me  by  saying  no  more  about 
it." 

"  John  ! "  It  was  the  slow,  well-calculated 
utterance  of  Hortense  Rieppe.  Did  I  hear  in 
it  the  caressing  note  of  love  ? 

John  turned. 

The  draw  had  swung  to,  the  mast  and  sail 
of  the  vessel  were  separating  away  from  the 
bridge  with  a  stealthy  motion,  men  with  iron  bars 
were  at  work  fastening  the  draw  secure,  and 
horses'  hoofs  knocked  nervously  upon  the  wooden 
flooring  as  the  internal  churning  of  the  automo 
biles  burst  upon  their  innocent  ears. 

"  John,  if  Mr.  Rodgers  is  really  not  going  with 
us  —  " 

Thus  Hortense  ;    and  at  that  Miss  La  Heu  :  — 

"  Why  do  you  keep  them  waiting  ?  "  There 
was  no  caress  in  that  note !  It  was  polished 
granite. 

He  looked  up  at  her  on  her  high  seat  by  the 
extremely  dilapidated  negro,  and  then  he  walked 
forward  and  took  his  place  beside  his  veiled 
fiancee,  among  the  glass  eyes.  A  hiss  of  sharp 
noise  spurted  from  the  automobiles,  horses  danced, 
and  then,  smoothly,  the  two  huge  engines  were 
gone  with  their  cargo  of  large,  distorted  shapes, 
leaving  behind  them  —  quite  as  our  present 
epoch  will  leave  behind  it  —  a  trail  of  power,  of 
ingenuity,  of  ruthlessness,  and  a  bad  smell. 

"  Hold  hard,  old  boy  !  "  chuckled  Beverly,  to 
whom  I  communicated  this  sentiment.  "  How  do 


THE   REPLACERS  231 

you  know  the  stink  of  one  generation  does  not 
become  the  perfume  of  the  next  ?  "  Beverly,  when 
he  troubled  to  put  a  thing  at  all  (which  was  seldom 
—  for  he  kept  his  quite  good  brains  well-nigh  per 
petually  turned  out  to  grass  —  or  rather  to  grass- 
widows)  always  put  it  well,  and  with  a  bracing 
vocabulary.  "Hullo!"  he  now  exclaimed,  and 
walked  out  into  the  middle  of  the  roadway,  where 
he  picked  up  a  parasol.  "Kitty  will  be  in  a  jolly 
old  stew.  None  of  its  expensive  bones  broken, 
however."  And  then  he  hailed  me  by  a  name  of 
our  youth.  "  What  are  you  doing  down  here,  you 
old  sourbelly  ?  " 

"  Watching  you  sun  yourself  on  the  fat  cushions 
of  the  yellow  rich." 

"  Oh,  shucks,  old  man,  they're  not  so  yellow !  " 

"  Charley  strikes  me  as  yellower  than  his  own 
gold." 

"  Charley's  not  a  bad  little  sort.  Of  course,  he 
needs  coaching  a  bit  here  and  there  —  just  now, 
for  instance,  when  he  didn't  see  that  that  girl 
wouldn't  think  of  riding  in  the  machine  that  had 
just  killed  her  dog.  By  Jove,  give  that  girl  a  year 
in  civilization  and  she'd  do !  Wrho  was  the  young 
fire-eater?" 

"  Fire-eater  !  He's  a  lot  more  decent  than  you 
or  I." 

"  But  that's  saying  so  little,  dear  boy  !  " 

"  Seriously,  Beverly." 

"  Oh,  hang  it  with  your  'seriously'!  Well,  then,, 
seriously,  melodrama  was  the  correct  ticket  and 
all  that  in  1840,  but  we've  outgrown  it;  it's 
devilish  demode  to  chuck  things  in  people's, 
faces." 


332  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  I'm  not  sorry  John  Mayrant  did  it !  "  I  brought 
out  his  name  with  due  emphasis. 

"  All  the  same,"  Beverly  was  beginning,  when 
the  automobile  returned  rapidly  upon  us,  and, 
guessing  the  cause  of  this,  he  waved  the  parasol. 
Charley  descended  to  get  it  —  an  unnecessary  act, 
prompted,  I  suppose,  by  the  sudden  relief  of  find 
ing  that  it  was  not  lost. 

He  made  his  thanks  marked.  "  It  is  my  sister's," 
he  concluded,  to  me,  by  way  of  explanation,  in  his 
slightly  foreign  accent.  "  It  is  not  much,  but  it 
has  got  some  stones  and  things  in  the  handle." 

We  were  favored  with  a  bow  from  the  veiled 
Hortense,  shrill  thanks  from  Kitty,  and  the  car, 
turning,  again  left  us  in  a  moment. 

"  You've  got  a  Frenchman  along,"  I  said. 

"Little  Gazza,"  Beverly  returned.  "Italian; 
though  from  his  morals  you'd  never  guess  he 
wasn't  Parisian.  Great  people  in  Rome.  Heredi 
tary  right  to  do  something  in  the  presence  of  the 
Pope  —  or  not  to  do  it,  I  forget  which.  Not  a  bit 
of  a  bad  little  sort,  Gazza.  He  has  just  sold  a  lot 
of  old  furniture  — Renaissance  —  Lorenzo  du  Bor 
gia —  that  sort  of  jolly  old  truck  —  to  Bohm,  you 
know." 

I  didn't  know. 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  do,  old  boy.  Harry  Bohm,  of 
Bohm  &  Cohn.  Everybody  knows  Bohm,  and 
we'll  all  be  knowing  Cohn  by  next  year.  Gazza 
has  sold  him  a  lot  of  furniture,  too.  Bohm's  from 
Pittsfield,  or  South  Lee,  or  East  Canaan,  or  West 
Stockbridge,  or  some  of  those  other  back-country 
cider  presses  that  squirt  some  of  the  hardest  propo 
sitions  into  Wall  Street.  He's  just  back  from  buy- 


THE    REPLACERS  233 

ing  a  railroad,  and  four  or  five  mines  in  Mexico. 
Bohm  represents  Christianity  in  the  firm.  At 
Newport  they  call  him  the  military  attache  to 
Jerusalem.  He's  the  big  chap  that  sat  behind  me 
in  the  car.  He'll  marry  Kitty  as  soon  as  she  can 
get  her  divorce.  Bohm's  a  jolly  old  sort  —  and  I 
tell  you,  you  old  sourbelly,  you're  letting  this 
Southern  moss  grow  over  you  a  bit.  Hey  ?  What  ? 
'  Yellow  rich '  isn't  half  bad,  and  I'll  say  it  myself, 
and  pretend  it's  mine  ;  but  hang  it,  old  man,  their 
children  won't  be  worse  than  lemon-colored,  and 
the  grandchildren  will  be  white  !  " 

"  Just  in  time,"  I  exclaimed,  "  to  take  a  back 
seat  with  their  evaporated  fortunes  !  " 

Beverly  chuckled.  "  Well,  if  they  do  evaporate, 
there  will  be  new  ones.  Now  don't  walk  along 
making  Mayflower  eyes  at  me.  I'm  no  Puritan, 
and  my  people  have  had  a  front  seat  since  pretty 
early  in  the  game,  which  I'm  holding  on  to,  you 
know.  And  by  Jove,  old  man,  I  tell  you,  if  you 
wish  to  hold  on  nowadays,  you  can't  be  drawing 
lines  !  If  you  don't  want  to  see  yourself  jolly  well 
replaced,  you  must  fall  in  with  the  replacers.  Our 
blooming  old  republic  is  merely  the  quickest  pro 
cess  of  endless  replacing  yet  discovered,  and  you 
take  my  tip,  and  back  the  replacers  !  That's 
where  Miss  Rieppe,  for  all  her  Kings  Port  tradi 
tions,  shows  sense." 

I  turned  square  on  him.  "  Then  she  has  broken 
it  ?  " 

"  Broken  what  ?  " 

"  Her  engagement  to  John  Mayrant.  You 
mean  to  say  that  you  didn't  —  ?" 

"See  here, old  man.    Seriously.    The  fire-eater?" 


234  LADY   BALTIMORE 

I  was  so  very  much  bewildered  that  I  merely 
stared  at  Beverly  Rodgers.  Of  course,  I  might 
have  known  that  Miss  Rieppe  would  not  feel  the 
need  of  announcing  to  her  rich  Northern  friends 
an  engagement  which  she  had  fallen  into  the 
habit  of  postponing. 

But  Beverly  had  a  better  right  to  be  taken 
aback.  "  I  suppose  you  must  have  some  reason 
for  your  remark,"  he  said. 

"  You  don't  mean  that  you  re  engaged  to  her?  " 
I  shot  out. 

"  Me  ?  With  my  poor  little  fifteen  thousand  a 
year?  Consider,  dear  boy !  Oh,  no,  we're  merely 
playing  at  it,  she  and  I.  She's  a  good  player. 
But  Charley  —  " 

"  He  is  ?  "  I  shouted. 

"  I  don't  know,  old  man,  and  I  don't  think  he 
knows  —  yet." 

"Beverly,"  said  I,  "let  me  tell  you."  And  I 
told  him. 

After  he  had  got  himself  adjusted  to  the 
novelty  of  it  he  began  to  take  it  with  a  series  of 
thoughtful  chuckles. 

Into  these  I  dropped  with :  "  Where's  her 
father,  anyhow  ?  "  I  began  to  feel,  fantastically, 
that  she  mightn't  have  a  father. 

"  He  stopped  in  Savannah,"  Beverly  answered. 
"He's  coming  over  by  the  train.  Kitty  —  Char 
ley's  sister,  Mrs.  Bleecker  —  did  the  chaperoning 
for  us." 

"  Very  expertly,  I  should  guess,"  I  said. 

"  Perfectly ;  invisibly,"  said  Beverly.  And  he 
returned  to  his  thoughts  and  his  chuckles. 

"  After  all,  it's  simple,"  he  presently  remarked. 


THE   REPLACERS  235 

"  Doesn't  that  depend  on  what  she's  here  for  ?  " 

"  Oh,  to  break  it." 

"  Why  come  for  that  ?  " 

He  took  another  turn  among  his  cogitations. 
I  took  a  number  of  turns  among  my  own,  but 
it  was  merely  walking  round  and  round  in  a 
circle. 

"  When  will  she  announce  it,  then  ? "  he  de 
manded. 

"  Ah  !  "  I  murmured.  "  You  said  she  was  a 
good  player." 

"  But  a  fire-eater ! "  he  resumed.  "  For  her. 
Oh,  hang  it !  She'll  let  him  go  !  " 

"  Then  why  hasn't  she  ?  " 

He  hesitated.  "  Well,  of  course  her  game  could 
be  spoiled  by  —  " 

His  speech  died  away  into  more  cogitation,  and 
I  had  to  ask  him  what  he  meant. 

"  By  love  getting  into  it  somewhere." 

We  walked  on  through  Worship  Street,  which 
we  had  reached  some  while  since,  and  the  chief 
features  of  which  I  mechanically  pointed  out  to 
him. 

"  Jolly  old  church,  that,"  said  Beverly,  as  we 
reached  my  favorite  corner  and  brick  wall.  "  Well, 
I'll  not  announce  it ! "  he  murmured  gallantly. 

"  My  dear  man,"  I  said,  "  Kings  Port  will  do  all 
the  announcing  for  you  to-morrow." 


XV 

WHAT    SHE    CAME    TO    SEE 

12  UT  in  this  matter  my  prognostication  was 
thoroughly  at  fault ;  yet  surely,  knowing 
Kings  Port's  sovereign  habit,  as  I  had  had  good 
cause  to  know  it,  I  was  scarce  beyond  reasonable 
bounds  in  supposing  that  the  arrival  of  Miss 
Rieppe  would  heat  up  some  very  general  and  very 
audible  talk  about  this  approaching  marriage, 
against  which  the  prejudices  of  the  town  were  set 
in  such  compact  array.  I  have  several  times 
mentioned  that  Kings  Port,  to  my  sense,  was 
buzzing  over  John  Mayrant's  affairs ;  buzzing  in 
the  open,  where  one  could  hear  it,  and  buzzing 
behind  closed  doors,  where  one  could  somehow 
feel  it ;  I  can  only  say  that  henceforth  this  buzz 
ing  ceased,  dropped  wholly  away,  as  if  Gossip  were 
watching  so  hard  that  she  forgot  to  talk,  giving 
place  to  a  great  stillness  in  her  kingdom.  Such 
occasional  words  as  were  uttered  sounded  oddly 
and  egregiously  clear  in  the  new-established  void. 
The  first  of  these  words  sounded,  indeed,  quite 
enormous,  issuing  as  it  did  from  Juno's  lips  at  our 
breakfast-table,  when  yesterday's  meeting  on  the 
New  Bridge  was  investing  my  mind  with  many 
thoughts.  She  addressed  me  in  one  of  her  favorite 
tones  (I  have  met  it,  thank  God !  but  in  two  or 

236 


WHAT  SHE   CAME   TO   SEE  237 

three  other  cases  during  my  whole  experience), 
which  always  somehow  conveyed  to  you  that  you 
were  personally  to  blame  for  what  she  was  going 
to  tell  you. 

"  I  suppose  you  know  that  your  friend,  Mr. 
Mayrant,  has  resigned  from  the  Custom  House  ?  " 

I  was,  of  course,  careful  not  to  give  Juno  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  that  she  had  surprised  me.  I 
bowed,  and  continued  in  silence  to  sip  a  little 
coffee ;  then,  setting  my  coffee  down,  I  observed 
that  it  would  be  some  few  days  yet  before  the 
resignation  could  take  effect;  and,  noticing  that 
Juno  was  getting  ready  some  new  remark,  I 
branched  off  and  spoke  to  her  of  my  excursion  up 
the  river  this  morning  to  see  the  azaleas  in  the 
gardens  at  Live  Oaks. 

"  How  lucky  the  weather  is  so  magnificent ! "  I 
exclaimed. 

"  I  shall  be  interested  to  hear,"  said  Juno, 
"  what  explanation  he  finds  to  give  Miss  Josephine 
for  his  disrespectful  holding  out  against  her,  and 
his  immediate  yielding  to  Miss  Rieppe." 

Here  I  deemed  it  safe  to  ask  her,  was  she  quite 
sure  it  had  been  at  the  instance  of  Miss  Rieppe 
that  John  had  resigned? 

"  It  follows  suspiciously  close  upon  her  arrival," 
stated  Juno.  She  might  have  been  speaking  of  a 
murder.  "  And  how  he  expects  to  support  a  wife 
now  —  well,  that  is  no  affair  of  mine,"  Juno  con 
cluded,  with  a  washing-her-hands-of-it  air,  as  if  up 
to  this  point  she  had  always  done  her  best  for  the 
wilful  boy.  She  had  blamed  him  savagely  for 
not  resigning,  and  now  she  was  blaming  him 
because  he  had  resigned;  and  I  ate  my  breakfast 


238  LADY  BALTIMORE 

in  much  entertainment  over  this  female  acrobat 
in  censure. 

No  more  was  said ;  I  think  that  my  manner  of 
taking  Juno's  news  had  been  perfectly  successful 
in  disappointing  her.  John's  resignation,  if  it  had 
really  occurred,  did  certainly  follow  very  close 
upon  the  arrival  of  Hortense ;  but  I  had  spoken 
one  true  thought  in  intimating  that  I  doubted  if 
it  was  due  to  the  influence  of  Miss  Rieppe.  It 
seemed  to  me  to  the  highest  degree  unlikely  that 
the  boy  in  his  present  state  of  feeling  would  do 
anything  he  did  not  wish  to  do  because  his  lady 
love  happened  to  wish  it  —  except  marry  her! 
There  was  apparently  no  doubt  that  he  would  do 
that.  Did  she  want  him,  poverty  and  all  ?  Was 
she,  even  now,  with  eyes  open,  deliberately  taking 
her  last  farewell  days  of  automobiles  and  of  steam 
yachts  ?  That  voice  of  hers,  that  rich  summons, 
with  its  quiet  certainty  of  power,  sounded  in  my 
memory.  "  John,"  she  had  called  to  him  from  the 
automobile;  and  thus  John  had  gone  away  in  it, 
wedged  in  among  Charley  and  the  fat  cushions 
and  all  the  money  and  glass  eyes.  And  now  he 
had  resigned  from  the  Custom  House  !  Yes,  that 
was,  whatever  it  signified,  truly  amazing  —  if  true. 

So  I  continued  to  ponder  quite  uselessly,  until 
the  up-country  bride  aroused  me.  She,  it  appeared, 
had  been  greatly  carried  away  by  the  beauty  of 
Live  Oaks,  and  was  making  her  David  take  her 
there  again  this  morning ;  and  she  was  asking  me 
didn't  I  hope  we  shouldn't  get  stuck  ?  The  peo 
ple  had  got  stuck  yesterday,  three  whole  hours, 
right  on  a  bank  in  the  river ;  and  wasn't  it  a  sin 
and  a  shame  to  run  a  boat  with  ever  so  many 


WHAT  SHE   CAME  TO   SEE  239 

passengers  aground  ?  By  the  doctrine  of  chances, 
I  informed  her,  we  had  every  right  to  hope  for 
better  luck  to-day ;  and,  with  the  assurance  of  how 
much  my  felicity  was  increased  by  the  prospect 
of  having  her  and  David  as  company  during  the 
expedition,  I  betook  myself  meanwhile  to  my  own 
affairs,  which  meant  chiefly  a  call  at  the  Exchange 
to  inquire  for  Eliza  La  Heu,  and  a  visit  to  the 
post-office  before  starting  upon  a  several  hours' 
absence. 

A  few  steps  from  our  front  door  I  came  upon 
John  Mayrant,  and  saw  at  once  too  plainly  that 
no  ease  had  come  to  his  spirit  during  the  hours 
since  the  bridge.  He  was  just  emerging  from  an 
adjacent  house. 

"  And  have  you  resigned  ?  "  I  asked  him. 

"  Yes.  That's  done.  You  haven't  seen  Miss 
Rieppe  this  morning  ?  " 

"  Why,  she's  surely  not  boarding  with  Mrs. 
Trevise  ?  " 

"  No ;  stopping  here  with  her  old  friend,  Mrs. 
Cornerly."  He  indicated  the  door  he  had  come 
from.  "  Of  course,  you  wouldn't  be  likely  to  see 
her  pass  !  "  And  with  that  he  was  gone. 

That  he  was  greatly  stirred  up  by  something 
there  could  be  no  doubt ;  never  before  had  I 
seen  him  so  abrupt ;  it  seemed  clear  that  anger 
had  taken  the  place  of  despondency,  or  what 
ever  had  been  his  previous  mood ;  and  by  the 
time  I  reached  the  post-office  I  had  already 
imagined  and  dismissed  the  absurd  theory  that 
John  was  jealous  of  Charley,  had  resigned  from 
the  Custom  House  as  a  first  step  toward  breaking 
his  engagement,  and  had  rung  Mrs.  Cornerly 's 


240  LADY   BALTIMORE 

bell  at  this  early  hour  with  the  purpose  of  inform 
ing  his  lady-love  that  all  was  over  between  them. 
Jealousy  would  not  be  likely  to  produce  this 
set  of  manifestations  in  young,  foolish  John ;  and 
I  may  say  here  at  once,  what  I  somewhat  later 
learned,  that  the  boy  had  come  with  precisely  the 
opposite  purpose,  namely,  to  repeat  and  reenforce 
his  steadfast  constancy,  and  that  it  was  something 
far  removed  from  jealousy  which  had  spurred  him 
to  this. 

I  found  the  girl  behind  the  counter  at  her  post, 
grateful  to  me  for  coming  to  ask  how  she  was  after 
the  shock  of  yesterday,  but  unwilling  to  speak  of 
it  at  all ;  all  which  she  expressed  by  her  charming 
manner,  and  by  the  other  subjects  she  chose  for 
conversation,  and  especially  by  the  way  in  which 
she  held  out  her  hand  when  I  took  my  leave. 

Near  the  post-office  I  was  hailed  by  Beverly 
Rodgers,  who  proclaimed  to  me  at  once  a  comic 
but  genuine  distress.  He  had  already  walked,  he 
said  (and  it  was  but  half-past  nine  o'clock,  as  he 
bitterly  bade  me  observe  on  the  church  dial),  more 
miles  in  search  of  a  drink  than  his  unarithmetical 
brain  had  the  skill  to  compute.  And  he  con 
founded  such  a  town  heartily;  he  should  return 
as  soon  as  possible  to  Charley's  yacht,  where  there 
was  civilization,  and  where  he  had  spent  the  night. 
During  his  search  he  had  at  length  come  to  a  door 
of  promising  appearance,  and  gone  in  there,  and 
they  had  explained  to  him  that  it  was  a  dispen 
sary.  A  beastly  arrangement.  What  was  the 
name  of  the  razor-back  hog  they  said  had  invented 
it  ?  And  what  did  you  do  for  a  drink  in  this  con 
founded  water-hole  ? 


WHAT   SHE   CAME  TO   SEE  241 

He  would  find  it  no  water-hole,  I  told  him  ;  but 
there  were  methods  which  a  stranger  upon  his  first 
morning  could  scarce  be  expected  to  grasp.  "  I 
could  direct  you  to  a  Dutchman,"  I  said,  "but 
you're  too  well  dressed  to  win  his  confidence  at 


once." 


u  Well,  old  man,"  began  Beverly,  "  I  don't  speak 
Dutch,  but  give  me  a  crack  at  the  confidence." 

However,  he  renounced  the  project  upon  learn 
ing  what  a  Dutchman  was.  Since  my  hours  were 
no  longer  dedicated  to  establishing  the  presence 
of  royal  blood  in  my  veins  I  had  spent  them  upon 
various  local  investigations  of  a  character  far  more 
entertaining  and  akin  to  my  taste.  It  was  in 
truth  quite  likely  that  Beverly  could  in  a  very  few 
moments,  with  his  smile  and  his  manner,  find  his 
way  to  any  Dutchman's  heart ;  he  had  that  divine 
gift  of  winning  over  to  him  quickly  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men ;  and  my  account  of  the  in 
genious  and  law-baffling  contrivances,  which  you 
found  at  these  little  grocery  shops,  at  once  roused 
his  curiosity  to  make  a  trial ;  but  he  decided  that 
the  club  w7as  better,  if  less  picturesque.  And  he 
told  me  that  all  the  men  of  the  automobile  party 
had  received  from  John  Mayrant  cards  of  invita 
tion  to  the  club. 

"  Your  fire-eater  is  a  civil  chap,"  said  Beverly. 
"  And  by  the  way,  do  you  happen  to  know,"  here 
he  pulled  from  his  pocket  a  letter  and  consulted 
its  address,  "  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael  ?  " 

I  was  delighted  that  he  brought  an  introduction 
to  this  lady ;  Hortense  Rieppe  could  not  open  for 
him  any  of  those  haughty  doors ;  and  I  wrished 
not  only  that  Beverly  (since  he  was  just  the  man 


242  LADY   BALTIMORE 

to  appreciate  it  and  understand  it)  should  see  the 
fine  flower  of  Kings  Port,  but  also  that  the  fine 
flower  of  Kings  Port  should  see  him ;  the  best 
blood  of  the  South  could  not  possibly  turn  out 
anything  better  than  Beverly  Rodgers,  and  it  was 
horrible  and  humiliating  to  think  of  the  other 
Northern  specimens  of  men  whom  Hortense  had 
imported  with  her.  I  was  here  suddenly  reminded 
that  the  young  woman  was  a  guest  of  the  Cor- 
nerlys,  the  people  who  swept  their  garden,  the 
people  whom  Eliza  La  Heu  at  the  Exchange  did 
not  "  know " ;  and  at  this  the  remark  of  Mrs. 
Gregory  St.  Michael,  when  I  had  walked  with  her 
and  Mrs.  Weguelin,  took  on  an  added  lustre  of 
significance :  — 

"  We  shall  have  to  call." 

Call  on  the  Cornerlys  !  Would  they  do  that  ? 
Were  they  ready  to  stand  by  their  John  to 
that  tune  ?  A  hotel  would  be  nothing ;  you 
could  call  on  anybody  at  a  hotel,  if  you  had  to ; 
but  here  would  be  a  demarche  indeed !  Yet, 
nevertheless,  I  felt  quite  certain  that,  if  Hortense, 
though  the  Cornerlys'  guest,  was  also  the  guaran 
teed  fiancee  of  John  Mayrant,  the  old  ladies  would 
come  up  to  the  scratch,  hate  and  loathe  it  as  they 
might,  and  undoubtedly  would :  they  could  be 
trusted  to  do  the  right  thing. 

I  told  Beverly  how  glad  I  was  that  he  would 
meet  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael.  "  The  rest  of 
your  party,  my  friend,"  I  said,  "  are  not  very  likely 
to."  And  I  generalized  to  him  briefly  upon  the 
town  of  Kings  Port.  "  Supposing  I  take  you  to 
call  upon  Mrs.  St.  Michael  when  I  come  back  this 
afternoon  ?  "  I  suggested. 


WHAT  SHE   CAME   TO   SEE  243 

Beverly  thought  it  over,  and  then  shook  his 
head.  "  Wouldn't  do,  old  man.  If  these  people 
are  particular  and  know,  as  you  say  they  do,  hadn't 
I  better  leave  the  letter  with  my  card,  and  then 
wait  till  she  sends  some  word  ? " 

He  was  right,  as  he  always  was,  unerringly. 
Consorting  with  all  the  Charleys,  and  the  Bohms, 
and  the  Cohns,  and  the  Kitties  hadn't  taken  the 
fine  edge  from  Beverly's  good  inheritance  and 
good  bringing  up ;  his  instinct  had  survived  his 
scruples,  making  of  him  an  agile  and  charming 
cynic,  whom  you  could  trust  to  see  the  right 
thing  always,  and  never  do  it  unless  it  was  abso 
lutely  necessary ;  he  would  marry  any  amount  of 
Kitties  for  their  money,  and  always  know  that  be 
side  his  mother  and  sisters  they  were  as  dirt ;  and 
he  would  see  to  it  that  his  children  took  after  their 
father,  went  to  school  in  England  for  a  good 
accent  and  enunciation,  as  he  had  done,  went  to 
college  in  America  for  the  sake  of  belonging  in 
their  own  country,  as  he  had  done,  and  married 
as  many  fortunes,  and  had  as  few  divorces,  as 
possible. 

"  Who  was  that  girl  on  the  bridge  ? "  he  now  in 
quired  as  we  reached  the  steps  of  the  post-office ; 
and  when  I  had  told  him  again,  because  he  had 
asked  me  about  Eliza  La  Heu  at  the  time, "  She's 
the  real  thing,"  he  commented.  "  Quite  extraor 
dinary,  you  know,  her  dignity,  when  poor  old 
awful  Charley  was  messing  everything  —  he's  so 
used  to  mere  money,  you  know,  that  half  the  time 
he  forgets  people  are  not  dollars,  and  you  have  to 
kick  him  to  remind  him  —  yes,  quite  perfect  dig 
nity.  Gad,  it  took  a  lady  to  climb  up  and  sit  by 


244  LADY   BALTIMORE 

that  ragged  old  darky  and  take  her  dead  dog  away 
in  the  cart !  The  cart  and  the  darky  only  made 
her  look  what  she  was  all  the  more.  Poor  Kitty 
couldn't  do  that  —  she'd  look  like  a  chambermaid  ! 
Well,  old  man,  see  you  again." 

I  stood  on  the  post-office  steps  looking  after 
Beverly  Rodgers  as  he  crossed  Court  Street. 
His  admirably  good  clothes,  the  easy  finish  of  his 
whole  appearance,  even  his  walk,  and  his  back, 
and  the  slope  of  his  shoulders,  were  unmistakable. 
The  Southern  men,  going  to  their  business  in 
Court  Street,  looked  at  him.  Alas,  in  his  outward 
man  he  was  as  a  rose  among  weeds !  And  cer 
tainly,  no  well-born  American  could  unite  with  an 
art  more  hedonistic  than  Beverly's  the  old  school 
and  the  nouveau  jeu  / 

Over  at  the  other  corner  he  turned  and  stood, 
admiring  the  church  and  gazing  at  the  other 
buildings,  and  so  perceived  me  still  on  the  steps. 
With  a  gesture  of  remembering  something  he 
crossed  back  again. 

"  You've  not  seen  Miss  Rieppe  ?  " 

"  Why,  of  course  I  haven't ! "  I  exclaimed. 
Was  everybody  going  to  ask  me  that? 

"  Well,  something's  up,  old  boy.  Charley  has 
got  the  launch  away  with  him  —  and  I'll  bet  he's 
got  her  away  with  him,  too.  Charley  lied  this 
morning." 

"  Is  lying,  then,  so  rare  with  him  ? " 

"  Why,  it  rather  is,  you  know.  But  I've  come 
to  be  able  to  spot  him  when  he  does  it.  Those 
little  bulgy  eyes  of  his  look  at  you  particularly 
straight  and  childlike.  He  said  he  had  to  hunt 
up  a  man  on  business — V-C  Chemical  Company, 
he  called  it— " 


WHAT  SHE   CAME  TO   SEE  2^5 

"  There  is  such  a  thing  here,"  I  said. 

"  Oh,  Charley'd  never  make  up  a  thing,  and  get 
found  out  in  that  way  !  But  he  was  lying  all  the 
same,  old  man." 

"  Do  you  mean  they've  run  off  and  got 
married  ?  " 

"  What  do  you  take  them  for  ?  Much  more 
like  them  to  run  off  and  not  get  married.  But 
they  haven't  done  that  either.  And,  speaking  of 
that,  I  believe  I've  gone  a  bit  adrift.  Your  fire- 
eater,  you  know — she  is  an  extraordinary  woman  !  " 
And  Beverly  gave  his  mellow,  little  humorous 
chuckle.  "  Hanged  if  I  don't  begin  to  think  she 
does  fancy  him." 

"  Well !  "  I  cried,  "  that  would  explain  —  no,  it 
wouldn't.  Whence  comes  your  theory  ?  " 

"  Saw  her  look  at  him  at  dinner  once  last  night. 
We  dined  with  some  people  —  Cornerly.  She 
looked  at  him  just  once.  Well,  if  she  intends  — 
by  gad,  it  upsets  one's  whole  notion  of  her !  " 

"  Isn't   just   one   look    rather   slight   basis   for 

» 

"  Now,  old  man,  you  know  better  than  that ! " 
Beverly  paused  to  chuckle.  "  My  grandmother 
Livingston,"  he  resumed,  "  knew  Aaron  Burr,  and 
she  used  to  say  that  he  had  an  eye  which  no 
honest  woman  could  meet  without  a  blush.  I 
don't  know  whether  your  fire-eater  is  a  Launce- 

lot,  or  a    Galahad,  but   that  girl's  eye  at  dinner 

)> 

"  Did  he  blush  ?  "  I  laughed. 

"  Not  that  I  saw.  But  really,  old  man,  confound 
it,  you  know !  He's  no  sort  of  husband  for  her. 
How  can  he  make  her  happy  and  how  can  she 


246  LADY   BALTIMORE 

make  him  happy,  and  how  can  either  of  them  hit 
it  off  with  the  other  the  least  little  bit  ?  She's  ex 
pensive,  he's  not;  she's  up-to-date,  he's  not;  she's 
of  the  great  world,  he's  provincial.  She's  all 
derision,  he's  all  faith.  Why,  hang  it,  old  boy, 
what  does  she  want  him  for  ?  " 

Beverly's  handsome  brow  was  actually  furrowed 
with  his  problem  ;  and,  as  I  certainly  could  fur 
nish  him  no  solution  for  it,  we  stood  in  silence  on 
the  post-office  steps.  "  What  can  she  want  him 
for  ?  "  he  repeated.  Then  he  threw  it  off  lightly 
with  one  of  his  chuckles.  "  So  glad  I've  no  daugh 
ters  to  marry  !  Well  —  I  must  go  draw  some 
money." 

He  took  himself  off  with  a  certain  alacrity, 
giving  an  impatient  cut  with  his  stick  at  a  sparrow 
in  the  middle  of  Worship  Street,  nor  did  I  see 
him  again  this  day,  although,  after  hurriedly  get 
ting  my  letters  (for  the  starting  hour  of  the  boat 
had  now  drawn  near),  I  followed  where  he  had 
gone  down  Court  Street,  and  his  cosmopolitan 
figure  would  have  been  easy  to  descry  at  any  dis 
tance  along  that  scantily  peopled  pavement.  He 
had  evidently  found  the  bank  and  was  getting  his 
money. 

David  of  the  yellow  hair  and  his  limpid-looking 
bride  were  on  the  horrible  little  excursion  boat, 
watching  for  me  and  keeping  with  some  difficulty 
a  chair  next  themselves  that  I  might  not  have  to 
stand  up  all  the  way ;  and,  as*  I  came  aboard,  the 
bride  called  out  to  me  her  relief,  she  had  made 
sure  that  I  would  be  late. 

"  David  said  you  wouldn't,"  she  announced  in 
her  clear  up-country  accent  across  the  parasols  and 


WHAT   SHE   CAME  TO   SEE  247 

heads  of  huddled  tourists,  "  but  I  told  him  a  gen 
tleman  that's  late  to  three  meals  aivry  day  like  as 
not  would  forget  boats  can't  be  kept  hot  in  the 
kitchen  for  you." 

I  took  my  place  in  the  chair  beside  her  as  has 
tily  as  possible,  for  there  is  nothing  that  I  so  much 
dislike  as  being  made  conspicuous  for  any  reason 
whatever ;  and  my  thanks  to  her  were,  I  fear,  less 
gracious  in  their  manner  than  should  have  been 
the  case.  Nor  did  she  find  me,  I  must  suppose, 
as  companionable  during  this  excursion  —  during 
the  first  part  of  it,  at  any  rate  —  as  a  limpid-look 
ing  bride,  who  has  kept  at  some  pains  a  seat  be 
side  her  for  a  single  gentleman,  has  the  right  to 
expect ;  the  brief  hours  of  this  morning  had  fed 
my  preoccupation  too  richly,  and  I  must  often 
have  fallen  silent. 

The  horrible  little  tug,  or  ferry,  or  wherry, 
or  whatever  its  contemptible  inconvenience  makes 
it  fitting  that  this  unclean  and  snail-like  craft 
should  be  styled,  cast  off  and  began  to  lumber 
along  the  edges  of  the  town  with  its  dense  cargo 
of  hats  and  parasols  and  lunch  parcels.  We  were 
a  most  extraordinary  litter  of  man  and  womankind. 
There  was  the  severe  New  England  type,  improv 
ing  each  shining  hour,  and  doing  it  in  bleak  cos 
tume  and  with  a  thoroughly  northeast  expression ; 
there  were  pink  sunbonnets  from  (I  should  im 
agine)  Spartanburg,  or  Charlotte,  or  Greenville; 
there  were  masculine  boots  which  yet  bore  in- 
crusted  upon  their  heels  the  red  mud  of  Aiken  or 
of  Camden;  there  was  one  fat,  jewelled  exhalation 
who  spoke  of  Palm  Beach  with  the  true  stockyard 
twang,  and  looked  as  if  she  swallowed  a  million 


248  LADY   BALTIMORE 

every  morning  for  breakfast,  and  God  knows  how 
many  more  for  the  ensuing  repasts  ;  she  was  the 
only  detestable  specimen  among  us  ;  sunbonnets, 
boots,  and  even  ungenial  New  England  proved  on 
acquaintance  kindly,  simple,  enterprising  Ameri 
cans  ;  yet  who  knows  if  sunbonnets  and  boots  and 
all  of  us  wouldn't  have  become  just  as  detestable 
had  we  but  been  as  she  was,  swollen  and  puffy 
with  the  acute  indigestion  of  sudden  wealth  ? 

This  reflection  made  me  charitable,  which  I 
always  like  to  be,  and  I  imparted  it  to  the  bride. 

"  My  !  "  she  said.  And  I  really  don't  know 
what  that  meant. 

But  presently  I  understood  well  why  people 
endured  the  discomfort  of  this  journey.  I  forgot 
the  cinders  which  now  and  then  showered  upon 
us,  and  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  the  crowded 
chairs;  I  forgot  the  boat  and  myself,  in  looking 
at  the  passing  shores.  Our  course  took  us  round 
Kings  Port  on  three  sides.  The  calm,  white  town 
spread  out  its  width  and  length  beneath  a  blue 
sky  softer  than  the  tenderest  dream  ;  the  white 
steeples  shone  through  the  enveloping  bright 
ness,  taking  to  each  other,  and  to  the  distant  roofs 
beneath  them,  successive  and  changing  relations, 
while  the  dwindling  mass  of  streets  and  edifices 
followed  more  slowly  the  veering  of  the  steeples, 
folded  upon  itself,  and  refolded,  opened  into  new 
shapes  and  closed  again,  dwindling  always,  and 
always  white  and  beautiful ;  and  as  the  far-off 
vision  of  it  held  the  eye,  the  few  masts  along  the 
wharves  grew  thin  and  went  out  into  invisibility, 
the  spires  became  as  masts,  the  distant  drawbridge 
through  which  we  had  passed  sank  down  into  a 


WHAT   SHE   CAME   TO   SEE  249 

mere  stretching  line,  and  shining  Kings  Port  was 
dissolved  in  the  blue  of  water  and  of  air. 

The  curving  and  the  narrowing  of  the  river 
took  it  at  last  from  view  ;  and  after  it  disappeared 
the  spindling  chimneys  and  their  smoke,  which 
were  along  the  bank  above  the  town  and  bridge, 
leaving  us  to  progress  through  the  solitude  of 
marsh  and  wood  and  shore.  The  green  levels  of  stiff 
salt  grass  closed  in  upon  the  breadth  of  water,  and 
we  wound  among  them,  looking  across  their  silence 
to  the  deeper  silence  of  the  woods  that  bordered 
them,  the  brooding  woods,  the  pines  and  the  live- 
oaks,  misty  with  the  motionless  hanging  moss,  and 
misty  also  in  that  Southern  air  that  deepened  when 
it  came  among  their  trunks  to  a  caressing,  myste 
rious,  purple  veil.  Every  line  of  this  landscape, 
the  straight  forest  top,  the  feathery  breaks  in  it 
of  taller  trees,  the  curving  marsh,  every  line  and 
every  hue  and  every  sound  inscrutably  spoke  sad 
ness.  I  heard  a  mocking-bird  once  in  some  blos 
soming  wild  fruit  tree  that  we  gradually  reached 
and  left  gradually  behind ;  and  more  than  once 
I  saw  other  blossoms,  and  the  yellow  of  the  trail 
ing  jessamine ;  but  the  bird  could  not  sing  the 
silence  away,  and  spring  with  all  her  abundance 
could  not  hide  this  spiritual  autumn. 

Dreams,  a  land  of  dreams,  where  even  the  high 
noon  itself  was  dreamy;  a  melting  together  of 
earth  and  air  and  water  in  one  eternal  gentleness 
of  revery  !  Whence  came  the  melancholy  of  this? 
I  had  seen  woods  as  solitary  and  streams  as  silent, 
I  had  felt  nature  breathing  upon  me  a  greater  awe  ; 
but  never  before  such  penetrating  and  quiet  sad- 


25° 


LADY  BALTIMORE 


ness.  I  only  know  that  this  is  the  perpetual  mood 
of  those  Southern  shores,  those  rivers  that  wind 
in  from  the  ocean  among  their  narrowing  marshes 


WHAT   SHE    CAME   TO   SEE  251 

and  their  hushed  forests,  and  that  it  does  not  come 
from  any  memory  of  human  hopes  and  disasters, 
but  from  the  elements  themselves. 

So  did  we  move  onward,  passing  in  due  time 
another  bridge  and  a  few  dwellings  and  some 
excavations,  until  the  river  grew  quite  narrow,  and 
there  ahead  was  the  landing  at  Live  Oaks,  with 
negroes  idly  watching  for  us,  and  a  launch  beside 
the  bank,  and  Charley  and  Hortense  Rieppe  about 
to  step  into  it.  Another  man  stood  up  in  the  launch 
and  talked  to  them  where  they  were  on  the  land 
ing  platform,  and  pointed  down  the  river  as  we 
approached ;  but  evidently  he  did  not  point  at  us. 
I  looked  hastily  to  see  what  he  was  indicating  to 
them,  but  I  could  see  nothing  save  the  solitary 
river  winding  away  between  the  empty  woods  and 
marshes. 

So  this  was  Hortense  Rieppe !  It  was  not  won 
derful  that  she  had  caused  young  John  to  lose  his 
heart,  or,  at  any  rate,  his  head  and  his  senses  ;  nor 
was  it  wonderful  that  Charley,  with  his  little  bulg 
ing  eyes,  should  take  her  in  his  launch  whenever 
she  would  go ;  the  wonderful  thing  was  that  John, 
at  his  age  and  with  his  nature,  should  have  got 
over  it  —  if  he  had  got  over  it !  I  felt  it  tingling 
in  me  ;  any  man  would.  Steel  wasp  indeed  ! 

She  was  slender,  and  oh,  hew  well  dressed ! 
She  watched  the  passengers  get  off  the  boat,  and 
I  could  not  tell  you  from  that  first  sight  of  her 
what  her  face  was  like,  but  only  her  hair,  the  sun 
burnt  amber  of  its  masses  making  one  think  of 
Tokay  or  Chateau-Yquem.  She  was  watching 
me,  I  felt,  and  then  saw ;  and  as  soon  as  I  was 
near  she  spoke  to  me  without  moving,  keeping 


252  LADY   BALTIMORE 

one  gloved  hand  lightly  posed  upon  the  railing  of 
the  platform,  so  that  her  long  arm  was  bent  with 
perfect  ease  and  grace.  I  swear  that  none  but  a 
female  eye  could  have  detected  any  toboggan  fire- 
escape. 

Her  words  dropped  with  the  same  calculated 
deliberation,  the  same  composed  and  rich  indiffer 
ence.  "  These  gardens  are  so  beautiful." 

Such  was  her  first  remark,  chosen  with  some 
purpose,  I  knew  quite  well ;  and  I  observed  that 
I  hoped  I  was  not  too  late  for  their  full  perfection, 
if  too  late  to  visit  them  in  her  company. 

She  turned  her  head  slightly  toward  Charley. 
"  We  have  been  enjoying  them  so  much." 

It  was  of  absorbing  interest  to  feel  simulta 
neously  in  these  brief  speeches  he  vouchsafed  — 
speeches  consummate  in  their  inexpressive  flatness 
—  the  intentional  coldness  and  the  latent  heat  of 
the  creature.  Since  Natchez  and  Mobile  (or 
whichever  of  them  it  had  been  that  had  witnessed 
her  beginnings)  she  had  encountered  many  men 
and  women,  those  who  could  be  of  use  to  her  and 
those  who  could  not ;  and  in  dealing  with  them 
she  had  tempered  and  chiselled  her  insolence  to  a. 
perfect  instrument,  to  strike  or  to  shield.  And  of 
her  greatest  gift,  also,  she  was  entirely  aware  — 
how  could  she  help  being,  with  her  evident  expe 
rience  ?  She  knew  that  round  her  whole  form 
swam  a  delicious,  invisible  sphere,  a  distillation 
that  her  veriest  self  sent  forth,  as  gardenias  do 
their  perfume,  moving  where  she  moved  and  stay 
ing  where  she  stayed,  and  compared  with  which 
wine  was  a  feeble  vapor  for  a  man  to  get  drunk  on. 

"  Flowers  are  always  so  delightful." 


• . 


«"*  *  1      I  ^ 

*NJf   - 

s 


V 


None  but  a  female  eye  could  have  detected  any  toboggan  fire-escape" 


WHAT   SHE   CAME   TO   SEE  255 

That  was  her  third  speech,  pronounced  just 
like  the  others,  in  a  low,  clear  voice  —  simplicity 
arrived  at  by  much  well-practised  complexity. 
And  she  still  looked  at  Charley. 

Charley  now  responded  in  his  little  banker 
accent.  "  It  is  a  magnificent  collection."  This 
he  said  looking  at  me,  and  moving  a  highly 
polished  finger-nail  along  a  very  slender  mustache. 

The  eyes  of  Hortense  now  for  a  moment 
glanced  at  the  mixed  company  of  boat-passen 
gers,  who  were  beginning  to  be  led  off  in  pilgrim 
groups  by  the  appointed  guides. 

"  We  were  warned  it  would  be  too  crowded,'* 
she  remarked. 

Charley  was  looking  at  her  foot.  I  can't  say 
whether  or  not  the  two  light  taps  that  the  foot 
now  gave  upon  the  floor  of  the  landing  brought 
out  for  me  a  certain  impatience  which  I  might 
otherwise  have  missed  in  those  last  words  of  hers. 
From  Charley  it  brought  out,  I  feel  quite  sure,  the 
speech  which  (in  some  form)  she  had  been  expect 
ing  from  him  as  her  confederate  in  this  unwelcome 
and  inopportune  interview  with  me,  and  which 
his  less  highly  schooled  perceptions  had  not  sug 
gested  to  him  until  prompted  by  her. 

"  I  should  have  been  very  glad  to  include  you 
in  our  launch  party  if  I  had  known  you  were 
coming  here  to-day,"  lied  little  Charley. 

"  Thank  you  so  much !  "  I  murmured ;  and  I 
fancy  that  after  this  Hortense  hated  me  worse 
than  ever.  Well,  why  should  I  play  her  game  ? 
If  anybody  had  any  claim  upon  me,  was  it  she  ? 
I  would  get  as  much  diversion  as  I  could  from  this 
encounter. 


256  LADY  BALTIMORE 

Hortense  had  looked  at  Charley  when  she  spoke 
for  my  benefit,  and  it  now  pleased  me  very  much 
to  look  at  him  when  I  spoke  for  hers. 

"  I  could  almost  give  up  the  gardens  for  the  sake 
of  returning  with  you,"  I  said  to  him. 

This  was  most  successful  in  producing  a  per 
ceptible  silence  before  Hortense  said,"  Do  come." 

I  wanted  to  say  to  her,  "  You  are  quite  splendid 
—  as  splendid  as  you  look,  through  and  through ! 
You  wouldn't  have  run  away  from  any  battle  of 
Chattanooga !  "  But  what  I  did  say  was,  "  These 
flowers  here  will  fade,  but  may  I  not  hope  to  see 
you  again  in  Kings  Port  ? " 

She  was  looking  at  me  with  eyes  half  closed  ; 
half  closed  for  the  sake  of  insolence  —  and  better 
observation ;  when  eyes  like  that  take  on  drowsi 
ness,  you  will  be  wise  to  leave  all  your  secrets 
behind  you,  locked  up  in  the  bank,  or  else  toss 
them  right  down  on  the  open  table.  Well,  I 
tossed  mine  down,  thereto  precipitated  by  a  warn 
ing  from  the  stranger  in  the  launch :  — 

"  We  shall  need  all  the  tide  we  can  get." 

"  I'm  sure  you'd  be  glad  to  know,"  I  then  said 
immediately  (to  Charley,  of  course),  "that  Miss 
La  Heu,  whose  dog  you  killed,  is  back  at  her 
work  as  usual  this  morning." 

"  Thank  you,"  returned  Charley.  "  If  there 
could  be  any  chance  for  me  to  replace  —  " 

"  Miss  La  Heu  is  her  name  ? "  inquired  Hor 
tense.  "I  did  not  catch  it  yesterday.  She  works, 
you  say  ?  " 

"  At  the  Woman's  Exchange.  She  bakes  cakes 
for  weddings  —  among  her  other  activities." 

" So  interesting  !"  said   Hortense;  and  bowing 


WHAT   SHE   CAME  TO   SEE  257 

to  me,  she  allowed  the  spellbound  Charley  to  help 
her  down  into  the  launch. 

Each  step  of  the  few  that  she  had  to  take  was 
upon  unsteady  footing,  and  each  was  taken  with 
slow  security  and  grace,  and  with  a  mastery  of 
her  skirts  so  complete  that  they  seemed  to  do  it 
of  themselves,  falling  and  folding  in  the  soft,  deli 
cate  curves  of  discretion. 

For  the  sake  of  not  seeming  too  curious  about 
this  party,  I  turned  from  watching  it  before  the 
launch  had  begun  to  move,  and  it  was  immedi 
ately  hidden  from  me  by  the  bank,  so  that  I  did 
not  see  it  get  away.  As  I  crossed  an  open  space 
toward  the  gardens  I  found  myself  far  behind  the 
other  pilgrims,  whose  wandering  bands  I  could 
half  discern  among  winding  walks  and  bordering 
bushes.  I  was  soon  taken  into  somewhat  repri 
manding  charge  by  an  admirable,  if  important, 
negro,  who  sighted  me  from  a  door  beneath  the 
porch  of  the  house,  and  advanced  upon  me  speed 
ily.  From  him  I  learned  at  once  the  rule  of  the 
place,  that  strangers  were  not  allowed  to  "go 
loose,"  as  he  expressed  it;  and  recognizing  the 
perfect  propriety  of  this  restriction,  I  was  humble, 
and  even  went  so  far  as  to  put  myself  right  with 
him  by  quite  ample  purchases  of  the  beautiful 
flowers  that  he  had  for  sale ;  some  of  these  would 
be  excellent  for  the  up-country  bride,  who  certainly 
ought  to  have  repentance  from  me  in  some  form 
for  my  silence  as  we  had  come  up  the  river :  the 
scenery  had  caused  me  most  ungallantly  to  forget 
her. 

My  rule-breaking  turned  out  all  to  my  advan 
tage.  The  admirable  and  important  negro  was 


258  LADY   BALTIMORE 

so  pacified  by  my  liberal  amends  that  he  not  only 
placed  the  flowers  which  I  had  bought  in  a  bucket 
of  water  to  wait  in  freshness  until  my  tour  of  the 
gardens  should  be  finished  and  the  moment  for 
me  to  return  upon  the  boat  should  arrive,  but  he 
also  honored  me  with  his  own  special  company; 
and  instead  of  depositing  me  in  one  of  the  groups 
of  other  travellers,  he  took  me  to  see  the  sights 
alone,  as  if  I  were  somebody  too  distinguished  to 
receive  my  impressions  with  the  common  herd. 
Thus  I  was  able  to  linger  here  and  there,  and 
even  to  return  to  certain  points  for  another,  look. 
I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  the  azaleas  at 
Live  Oaks.  You  will  understand  me  quite  well, 
I  am  sure,  when  I  say  that  I  had  heard  the  peo 
ple  at  Mrs.  Trevise's  house  talk  so  much  about 
them,  and  praise  them  so  superlatively,  that  I 
was  not  prepared  for  much :  my  experience  of 
life  had  already  included  quite  a  number  of  aza 
leas.  Moreover,  my  meeting  with  Hortense  and 
Charley  had  taken  me  far  away  from  flowers. 
But  when  that  marvellous  place  burst  upon  me, 
I  forgot  Hortense.  I  have  seen  gardens,  many 
gardens,  in  England,  in  France,  in  Italy ;  I  have 
seen  what  can  be  done  in  great  hothouses,  and 
on  great  terraces ;  what  can  be  done  under  a  roof, 
and  what  can  be  done  in  the  open  air  with  the  aid 
of  architecture  and  sculpture  and  ornamental  land 
and  water;  but  no  horticulture  that  I  have  seen 
devised  by  mortal  man  approaches  the  unearthly 
enchantment  of  the  azaleas  at  Live  Oaks.  It 
was  not  like  seeing  flowers  at  all ;  it  was  as  if 
there,  in  the  heart  of  the  wild  and  mystic  wood, 
in  the  gray  gloom  of  those  trees  veiled  and  muffled 


WHAT   SHE   CAME   TO   SEE  259 

in  their  long  webs  and  skeins  of  hanging  moss, 
a  great,  magic  flame  of  rose  and  red  and  white 
burned  steadily.  You  looked  to  see  it  vanish; 
you  could  not  imagine  such  a  thing  would  stay. 
All  idea  of  individual  petals  or  species  was  swept 
away  in  this  glowing  maze  of  splendor,  this  trans 
parent  labyrinth  of  rose  and  red  and  white,  through 
which  you  looked  beyond,  into  the  gray  gloom  of 
the  hanging  moss  and  the  depths  of  the  wild  forest 
trees. 

I  turned  back  as  often  as  I  could,  and  to  the 
last  I  caught  glimpses  of  it,  burning,  glowing,  and 
shining  like  some  miracle,  some  rainbow  exorcism, 
with  its  flooding  fumes  of  orange-rose  and  red 
and  white,  merging  magically.  It  was  not  until  I 
reached  the  landing,  and  made  my  way  on  board 
again,  that  Hortense  returned  to  my  thoughts. 
She  hadn't  come  to  see  the  miracle ;  not  she !  I 
knew  that  better  than  ever.  And  who  was  the 
other  man  in  the  launch  ? 

"  Wasn't  it  perfectly  elegant !  "  exclaimed  the 
up-country  bride.  And  upon  my  assenting,  she 
made  a  further  declaration  to  David :  "  It's  just 
aivry  bit  as  good  as  the  Isle  of  Champagne." 

This  I  discovered  to  be  a  comic  opera,  mounted 
with  spendthrift  brilliance,  which  David  had  taken 
her  to  see  at  the  town  of  Gonzales,  just  before  they 
were  married. 

As  we  made  our  way  down  the  bending  river 
she  continued  to  make  many  observations  to  me 
in  that  up-country  accent  of  hers,  which  is  a 
fashion  of  speech  that  may  be  said  to  differ  as 
widely  from  the  speech  of  the  low-country  as 
cotton  differs  from  rice.  I  began  to  fear  that, 


26o  LADY  BALTIMORE 

in  spite  of  my  truly  good  intentions,  I  was  again 
failing  to  be  as  "  attentive  "  as  the  occasion  de 
manded;  and  so  I  presented  her  with  my  floral 
tribute. 

She  was  immediately  arch.  "  I'd  surely  be 
depriving  somebody  I  "  and  on  this  I  got  to  the 
full  her  limpid  look. 

I  assured  her  that  this  would  not  be  so,  and 
pointed  to  the  other  flowers  I  had. 

Accordingly,  after  a  little  more  archness,  she 
took  them,  as  she  had,  of  course,  fully  meant  to 
do  from  the  first;  she  also  took  a  woman's  re 
venge.  "  I'll  not  be  any  more  lonesome  going 
down  than  I  was  coming  up,"  she  said.  "  David's 
enough."  And  this  led  me  definitely  to  conclude 
that  David  had  secured  a  helpmate  who  could 
take  care  of  herself,  in  spite  of  the  limpidity  of 
her  eyes. 

A  steel  wasp  ?  Again  that  misleading  description 
of  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael's,  to  which,  since  my 
early  days  in  Kings  Port,  my  imagination  may  be 
said  to  have  been  harnessed,  came  back  into  my 
mind.  I  turned  its  injustice  over  and  over  beneath 
the  light  which  the  total  Hortense  now  shed  upon  it 
—  or  rather,  not  the  total  Hortense,  but  my  whole 
impression  of  her,  as  far  as  I  had  got ;  I  got  a 
good  deal  further  before  we  had  finished.  To  the 
slow,  soft  accompaniment  of  these  gliding  river 
shores,,  where  all  the  shadows  had  changed  since 
morning,  so  that  new  loveliness  stood  revealed  at 
every  turn,  my  thoughts  dwelt  upon  this  perfected 
specimen  of  the  latest  American  moment  —  so 
late  that  she  contained  nothing  of  the  past,  and  a 
great  deal  of  to-morrow.  I  basked  myself  in  the 


WHAT  SHE   CAME  TO   SEE  261 

memory  of  her  achieved  beauty,  her  achieved  dress, 
her  achieved  insolence,  her  luxurious  complexity. 
She  was  even  later  than  those  quite  late  athletic 
girls,  the  Amazons  of  the  links,  whose  big,  hard, 
football  faces  stare  at  one  from  public  windows  and 
from  public  prints,  whose  giant,  manly  strides  take 
them  over  leagues  of  country  and  square  miles  of 
dance-floor,  and  whose  bursting,  blatant,  immodest 
health  glares  upon  sea-beaches  and  round  sup 
per  tables.  Hortense  knew  that  even  now  the 
hour  of  such  is  striking,  and  that  the  American 
boy  will  presently  turn  with  relief  to  a  creature 
who  will  more  clearly  remind  him  that  he  is  a  man 
and  that  she  is  a  woman. 

But  why  was  the  insolence  of  Hortense  offen 
sive,  when  the  insolence  of  Eliza  La  Heu  was  not? 
Both  these  extremely  feminine  beings  could  exer 
cise  that  quality  in  profusion,  whenever  they  so 
wished ;  wherein  did  the  difference  lie  ?  Perhaps, 
I  thought,  in  the  spirit  of  its  exercise  ;  Eliza  was 
merely  insolent  when  she  happened  to  feel  like 
it ;  and  man  has  always  been  able  to  forgive 
woman  for  that  —  whether  the  angels  do  or  not ; 
but  Hortense,  the  world-wise,  was  insolent  to  all 
people  who  could  not  be  of  use  to  her ;  and  all  I 
have  to  say  is,  that  if  the  angels  can  forgive  that, 
they're  welcome  ;  I  can't ! 

Had  I  made  sure  of  anything  at  the  landing? 
Yes  ;  Hortense  didn't  care  for  Charley  in  the  least, 
and  never  would.  A  woman  can  stamp  her  foot 
at  a  man  and  love  him  simultaneously ;  but  those 
two  light  taps,  and  the  measure  that  her  eyes  took 
of  Charley,  meant  that  she  must  love  his  posses 
sions  very  much  to  be  able  to  bear  him  at  all. 


262  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Then,  what  was  her  feeling  about  John  Mayrant? 
As  Beverly  had  said,  what  could  she  want  him 
for  ?  He  hadn't  a  thing  that  she  valued  or  needed. 
His  old-time  notions  of  decency,  the  clean  sim 
plicity  of  his  make,  his  good  Southern  position,  and 
his  collection  of  nice  old  relatives  —  what  did  these 
assets  look  like  from  an  automobile,  or  on  board 
the  launch  of  a  modern  steam  yacht  ?  And 
wouldn't  it  be  amusing  if  John  should  grow  need 
lessly  jealous,  and  have  a  u  difficulty"  with  Char 
ley  ?  —  not  a  mere  flinging  of  torn  paper  money 
in  the  banker's  face,  but  some  more  decided 
punishment  for  the  banker's  presuming  to  rest 
his  predatory  eyes  upon  John's  affianced  lady. 

I  stared  at  the  now  broadening  river,  where  the 
reappearance  of  the  bridge,  and  of  Kings  Port, 
and  the  nearer  chimneys  pouring  out  their  smoke 
a. few  miles  above  the  town,  betokened  that  our 
excursion  was  drawing  to  its  end.  And  then 
from  the  chimney's  neighborhood,  from  the  water 
side  where  their  factories  stood,  there  shot  out  into 
the  smoothness  of  the  stream  a  launch.  It  crossed 
into  our  course  ahead  of  us,  preceded  us  quickly, 
growing  soon  into  a  dot,  went  through  the  bridge, 
and  so  was  seen  no  longer;  and  its  occupants 
must  have  reached  town  a  good  half  hour  before 
we  did.  And  now,  suddenly,  I  was  stunned  with 
a  great  discovery.  The  bride's  voice  sounded  in 
my  ear.  "  Well,  I'll  always  say  you're  a  prophet, 
anyhow !  " 

I  looked  at  her,  dull  and  clazecl  by  the  internal 
commotion  the  discovery  had  raised  in  me. 

"You  said  we  wouldn't  get  stuck  in  the  mud, 
and  we  didn't,"  said  the  bride. 


WHAT   SHE    CAME   TO   SEE  263 

I  pointed  to  the  chimneys.  "Are  those  the 
phosphate  works  ?  " 

"  Yais.     Didn't  you  know  ?  " 

"  The  V-C  phosphate  works  ?  " 

"Why,  yais.  Haven't  you  been  to  see  them 
yet  ?  He  ought  to,  oughtn't  he,  David  ?  'Spe 
cially  now  they've  found  those  deposits  up  the  river 
were  just  as  rich  as  they  hoped,  after  all." 

"  Whose?  Mr.  Mayrant's?  "  I  asked  with  such 
sharpness  that  the  bride  was  surprised. 

David  hadn't  attended  to  the  name.  It  was 
some  trust  estate,  he  thought ;  Regent  Tom,  or 
some  such  thing. 

"  And  they  thought  it  was  no  good,"  said  the 
bride.  "  And  it's  aivry  bit  as  good  as  the  Coosaw 
used  to  be.  Better  than  Florida  or  Tennessee." 

My  eyes  instinctively  turned  to  where  they  had 
last  seen  the  launch  ;  of  course  it  wasn't  there  any 
more.  Then  I  spoke  to  David. 

"  Do  you  know  what  a  phosphate  bed  looks 
like  ?  Can  one  see  it  ?  " 

"  This  kind  you  can,"  he  answered.  "  But  it's 
not  worth  your  trouble.  Just  a  kind  of  a  square 
hole  you  dig  along  the  river  till  you  strike  the 
stuff.  What  you  want  to  see  is  the  works." 

No,  I  didn't  want  to  see  even  the  works ;  they 
smelt  atrociously,  and  I  do  not  care  for  vats,  and 
acids,  and  processes :  and  besides,  had  I  not  seen 
enough?  My  eyes  went  down  the  river  again 
where  that  launch  had  gone ;  and  I  wondered 
if  the  wedding-cake  would  be  postponed  any 
more. 

Regent  Tom  ?  Oh,  yes,  to  be  sure !  John 
Mayrant  had  pointed  out  to  me  the  house  where 


264  LADY   BALTIMORE 

he  had  lived  ;  he  had  been  John's  uncle.  So  the 
old  gentleman  had  left  his  estate  in  trust !  And 
now  — !  But  certainly  Hortense  would  have  won 
the  battle  of  Chattanooga  ! 

"  Don't  be  too  sure  about  all  this,"  I  told  myself 
cautiously.  But  there  are  times  when  cautioning 
one's  self  is  quite  as  useless  as  if  somebody  else 
had  cautioned  one;  my  reason  leaped  with  the 
rapidity  of  intuition ;  I  merely  sat  and  looked  on 
at  what  it  was  doing.  All  sorts  of  odds  and  ends, 
words  I  hadn't  understood,  looks  and  silences  I 
hadn't  interpreted,  little  signs  that  I  had  thought 
nothing  of  at  first,  but  which  I  had  gradually, 
through  their  multiplicity,  come  to  know  meant 
something,  all  these  broken  pieces  fitted  into  each 
other  now,  fell  together  and  made  a  clear  pattern 
of  the  truth,  without  a  crack  in  it  —  Hortense  had 
never  believed  in  that  story  about  the  phosphates 
having  failed  —  "  pinched  out,"  as  they  say  of  ore 
deposits.  There  she  had  stood  between  her  two 
suitors,  between  her  affianced  John  and  the  besieg 
ing  Charley,  and  before  she  would  be  off  with  the 
old  love  and  on  with  the  new,  she  must  personally 
look  into  those  phosphates.  Therefore  she  had 
been  obliged  to  have  a  sick  father  and  postpone 
the  wedding  two  or  three  times,  because  her  affairs 
—  very  likely  the  necessity  of  making  certain  of 
Charley — had  prevented  her  from  coming  sooner 
to  Kings  Port.  And  having  now  come  hither, 
and  having  beheld  her  Northern  and  her  Southern 
lovers  side  by  side  —  had  the  comparison  done 
something  to  her  highly  controlled  heart  ?  Was 
love  taking  some  hitherto  unknown  liberties  with 
that  well-balanced  organ  ?  But  what  an  outrage 


*WHAT  SHE   CAME  TO   SEE  265 

had  been  perpetrated  upon  John  !  At  that  my 
deductions  staggered  in  their  rapid  course.  How 
could  his  aunts  —  but  then  it  had  only  been  one 
of  them  ;  Miss  Josephine  had  never  approved  of 
Miss  Eliza's  course ;  it  was  of  that  that  Mrs. 
Weguelin  St.  Michael  had  so  emphatically  re 
minded  Mrs.  Gregory  in  my  presence  when  we 
had  strolled  together  upon  High  Walk,  and  those 
two  ladies  had  talked  oracles  in  my  presence. 
Well,  they  were  oracles  no  longer ! 

When  the  boat  brought  us  back  to  the  wharf, 
there  were  the  rest  of  my  flowers  unbestowed,  and 
upon  whom  should  I  bestow  them  ?  I  thought 
first  of  Eliza  La  Heu,  but  she  wouldn't  be  at  the 
Exchange  so  late  as  this.  Then  it  seemed  well 
to  carry  them  to  Mrs.  Weguelin.  Something, 
however,  prompted  me  to  pass  her  door,  and  con 
tinue  vaguely  walking  on  until  I  came  to  the 
house  where  Miss  Josephine  and  Miss  Eliza 
lived ;  and  here  I  rang  the  bell  and  was  ad 
mitted. 

They  were  sitting  as  I  had  seen  them  first,  the 
one  with  her  embroidery,  and  the  other  on  the 
further  side  of  a  table,  whereon  lay  an  open  letter, 
which  in  a  few  moments  I  knew  must  have  been 
the  subject  of  the  discussion  which  they  finished 
even  as  I  came  forward. 

"  It  was  only  prolonging  an  honest  mistake." 
That  was  Miss  Eliza. 

"  And  it  has  merely  resulted  in  clinching  what 
you  meant  it  to  finish."  That  was  Miss  Jose 
phine. 

I  laid  my  flowers  upon  the  table,  and  saw  that 
the  letter  was  in  John  Mayrant's  hand.  Of  course 


266  LADY   BALTIMORE 

I  avoided  looking  at  it  again ;  but  what  had  he 
written,  and  why  had  he  written  ?  His  daily  steps 
turned  to  this  house  —  unless  Miss  Josephine  had 
banished  him  again. 

The  ladies  accepted  my  offering  with  gracious 
expressions,  and  while  I  told  them  of  my  visit  to 
Live  Oaks,  and  poured  out  my  enthusiasm,  the 
servant  was  sent  for  and  brought  water  and  two 
beautiful  old  china  bowls,  in  which  Miss  Eliza 
proceeded  to  arrange  the  flowers  with  her  deli 
cate  white  hands.  She  made  them  look  ex 
quisite  with  an  old  lady's  art,  and  this  little 
occupation  went  on  as  we  talked  of  indifferent 
subjects. 

But  the  atmosphere  of  that  room  was  charged 
with  the  subject  of  which  we  did  not  speak.  The 
letter  lay  on  the  table  ;  and  even  as  I  struggled  to 
sustain  polite  conversation,  I  began  to  know  what 
was  in  it,  though  I  never  looked  at  it  again ;  it 
spoke  out  as  clearly  to  me  as  the  launch  had  done. 
I  had  thought,  when  I  first  entered,  to  tell  the 
ladies  something  of  my  meeting  with  Hortense 
Rieppe  ;  I  can  only  say  that  I  found  this  impossi 
ble.  Neither  of  them  referred  to  her,  or  to  John, 
or  to  anything  that  approached  what  we  were 
all  thinking  of;  for  me  to  do  so  would  have 
assumed  the  dimensions  of  a  liberty  ;  and  in  con 
sequence  of  this  state  of  things,  constraint  sat 
upon  us  all,  growing  worse,  and  so  pervading  our 
small-talk  with  discomfort  that  I  made  my  visit  a 
very  short  one.  Of  course  they  were  civil  about 
this  when  I  rose,  and  begged  me  not  to  go  so 
soon  ;  but  I  knew  better.  And  even  as  I  was 
getting  my  hat  and  gloves  in  the  hall  I  could  tell 


WHAT   SHE   CAME   TO   SEE  267 

by  their  tones  that  they  had  returned  to  the  sub 
ject  of  that  letter.  But  in  truth  they  had  never 
left  it ;  as  the  front  door  shut  behind  me  I  felt  as 
if  they  had  read  it  aloud  to  me. 


XVI 

THE    STEEL    WASP 

(CERTAINLY  Hortense  Rieppe  would  have 
won  the  battle  of  Chattanooga !  I  know  not 
from  which  parent  that  young  woman  inherited 
her  gift  of  strategy,  but  she  was  a  master.  To 
use  the  resources  of  one  lover  in  order  to  ascer 
tain  if  another  lover  had  any ;  to  lay  tribute  on 
everything  that  Charley  possessed ;  on  his  influ 
ence  in  the  business  world,  which  enabled  him  to 
walk  into  the  V-C  Chemical  Company's  office 
and  borrow  an  expert  in  the  phosphate  line  ;  on 
his  launch  in  which  to  pop  the  expert  and  take 
him  up  the  river,  and  see  in  his  company  and 
learn  from  his  lips  just  what  resources  of  worldly 
wealth  were  likely  to  be  in  store  for  John  May- 
rant;  and  finally  (which  was  the  key  to  all  the 
rest)  on  his  inveterate  passion  for  her,  on  his 
bankerlike  determination  through  all  the  thick 
and  thin  of  discouragement,  and  worse  than  dis 
couragement,  of  contemptuous  coquetry,  to  pos 
sess  her  at  any  cost  he  could  afford  ;  —  to  use  all 
this  that  Charley  had,  in  order  that  she  might 
judiciously  arrive  at  the  decision  whether  she 
would  take  him  or  his  rival,  left  one  lost  in 
admiration.  And  then,  not  to  waste  a  moment ! 
To  reach  town  one  evening,  and  next  morning  by 
ten  o'clock  to  have  that  expert  safe  in  the  launch 

268 


THE   STEEL  WASP  269 

on  his  way  up  the  river  to  the  phosphate  dig 
gings  !  The  very  audacity  of  such  unscrupulous- 
ness  commanded  my  respect :  successful  dishonor 
generally  wins  louder  applause  than  successful 
virtue.  But  to  be  married  to  her!  Oh!  not  for 
worlds !  Charley  might  meet  such  emergency, 
but  poor  John,  never! 

I  nearly  walked  into  Mrs.  Weguelin  and  Mrs. 
Gregory  taking  their  customary  air  slowly  in 
South  Place. 

"  But  why  a  steel  wasp  ?  "  I  said  at  once  to  Mrs. 
Weguelin.  It  was  a  more  familiar  way  of  begin 
ning  with  the  little,  dignified  lady  than  would 
have  been  at  all  possible,  or  suitable,  if  we  had 
not  had  that  little  joke  about  the  piano  snobile 
between  us.  As  it  was,  she  was  not  wholly  dis 
pleased.  These  Kings  Port  old  ladies  grew,  I 
suspect,  very  slowly  and  guardedly  accustomed 
to  any  outsider;  they  allowed  themselves  very 
seldom  to  suffer  any  form  of  abruptness  from  him, 
or  from  any  one,  for  that  matter.  But,  once  they 
were  reassured  as  to  him,  then  they  might  some 
times  allow  the  privileged  person  certain  de 
partures  from  their  own  rule  of  deportment, 
because  his  conventions  were  recognized  to  be 
different  from  theirs.  Moreover,  in  reminding 
Mrs.  Weguelin  of  the  steel  wasp,  I  had  put  my 
abruptness  in  "  quotations,"  so  to  speak,  by  the 
tone  I  gave  it,  just  as  people  who  are  particular 
in  speech  can  often  interpolate  a  word  of  current 
slang  elegantly  by  means  of  the  shade  of  emphasis 
which  they  lay  upon  it. 

So  Mrs.  Weguelin  smiled  and  her  dark  eyes 
danced  a  little.  "  You  remember  I  said  that,  then  ? " 


2yo  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  I  remember  everything  that  you  said." 

"  How  much  have  you  seen  of  the  creature?" 
demanded  Mrs.  Gregory,  with  her  head  pretty 
high. 

"  Well,  I'm  seeing  more,  and  more,  and  more 
every  minute.  She's  rather  endless." 

Mrs.  Weguelin  looked  reproachful.  "You  surely 
cannot  admire  her,  too  ?  " 

Mrs.  Gregory  hadn't  understood  me.  "  Oh,  if 
you  really  can  keep  her  away,  you're  welcome  ! '" 

"  I  only  meant,"  I  explained  to  the  ladies,  "  that 
you  don't  really  begin  to  see  her  till  you  have  seen 
her  :  it's  afterward,  when  you're  out  of  reach  of 
the  spell."  And  I  told  them  of  the  interview 
which  I  had  not  been  able  to  tell  to  Miss  Jose 
phine  and  Miss  Eliza.  "  I  doubt  if  it  lasted  more 
than  four  minutes,"  I  assured  them. 

"  Up  the  river  ?  "  repeated  Mrs.  Gregory. 

"  At  the  landing,"  I  repeated.  And  the  ladies- 
consulted  each  other's  expressions.  But  that 
didn't  bother  me  any  more. 

"  And  you  can  admire  her  ?  "  Mrs.  Weguelin 
persisted. 

"  May  I  tell  you  exactly,  precisely  ?  " 

"  Oh,  do  !  "  they  both  exclaimed. 

"  Well,  I  think  many  wise  men  would  find  her 
immensely  desirable  —  as  somebody  else's  wife  !  "" 

At  this  remark  Mrs.  Weguelin  dropped  her 
eyes,  but  I  knew  they  were  dancing  beneath  their 
lids.  "I  should  not  have  permitted  myself  to  say 
that,  but  I  am  glad  that  it  has  been  said." 

Mrs.  Gregory  turned  to  her  companion.  "  Shall 
we  call  to-morrow?  " 

"  Don't   you  feel    it  must  be  done  ? "  returned 


THE   STEEL   WASP  271 

Mrs.  Weguelin,  and  then  she  addressed  me.  "Do 
you  know  a  Mr.  Beverly  Rodgers  ? " 

I  gave  him  a  golden  recommendation  and  took 
my  leave  of  the  ladies. 

So  they  were  going  to  do  the  handsome  thing ; 
they  would  ring  the  Cornerlys'  bell ;  they  would 
cross  the  interloping  threshold,  they  would  rec 
ognize  the  interloping  girl;  and  this  meant  that 
they  had  given  it  up.  It  meant  that  Miss  Eliza 
had  given  it  up,  too,  had  at  last  abandoned  her 
position  that  the  marriage  would  never  take  place. 
And  her  own  act  had  probably  drawn  this  down 
upon  her.  When  the  trustee  of  that  estate  had 
told  her  of  the  apparent  failure  of  the  phosphates, 
she  had  hailed  it  as  an  escape  for  her  beloved 
John,  and  for  all  of  them,  because  she  made  sure 
that  Hortense  would  never  marry  a  virtually 
penniless  man.  And  when  the  work  went  on, 
and  the  rich  fortune  was  unearthed  after  all,  her 
influence  had  caused  that  revelation  to  be  delayed 
because  she  was  so  confident  that  the  engagement 
would  be  broken.  But  she  had  reckoned  without 
Hortense ;  worse  than  that,  she  had  reckoned 
without  John  Mayrant  ;  in  her  meddling  attempt 
to  guide  his  affairs  in  the  way  that  she  believed 
would  be  best  for  him,  she  forgot  that  the  boy 
whom  she  had  brought  up  was  no  longer  a  child, 
and  thus  she  unpardonably  ignored  his  rights  as 
a  man.  And  now  Miss  Josephine's  disapproval 
was  vindicated,  and  her  own  casuistry  was  doubly 
punished.  Miss  Rieppe's  astute  journey  of  in 
vestigation  —  for  her  purpose  had  evidently  be 
come  suspected  by  some  of  them  beforehand  — 
had  forced  Miss  Eliza  to  disclose  the  truth  about 


272  LADY   BALTIMORE 

the  phosphates  to  her  nephew  before  it  should  be 
told  him  by  the  girl  herself ;  and  the  intolerable 
position  of  apparent  duplicity  precipitated  two 
wholly  inevitable  actions  on  his  part;  he  had 
bound  himself  more  than  ever  to  marry  Hortense, 
and  he  had  made  a  furious  breach  with  his  Aunt 
Eliza.  That  was  what  his  letter  had  contained  ; 
this  time  he  had  banished  himself  from  that  house. 
What  was  his  Aunt  Eliza  going  to  do  about  it  ? 
I  wondered.  She  was  a  stiff,  if  indiscreet,  old  lady, 
and  it  certainly  did  not  fall  within  her  view  of  the 
proprieties  that  young  people  should  take  their 
elders  to  task  in  furious  letters.  But  she  had 
been  totally  in  the  wrong,  and  her  fault  was  irrep 
arable,  because  important  things  had  happened 
in  consequence  of  it ;  she  might  repent  the  fault 
in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  but  she  couldn't  stop  the 
things.  Would  she,  then,  honorably  wear  the 
sackcloth,  or  would  she  dishonestly  shirk  it  under 
the  false  issue  of  her  nephew's  improper  tone  to  her? 
Women  can  justify  themselves  with  more  appall 
ing  skill  than  men. 

One  drop  there  was  in  all  this  bitter  bucket, 
which  must  have  tasted  sweet  to  John.  He  had 
resigned  from  the  Custom  House :  Juno  had  got  it 
right  this  time,  though  she  hadn't  a  notion  of  the 
real  reason  for  John's  act.  This  act  had  been, 
since  morning,  lost  for  me,  so  to  speak,  in  the 
shuffle  of  more  absorbing  events ;  and  it  now  rose 
to  view  again  in  my  mind  as  a  telling  stroke  in 
the  full-length  portrait  that  all  his  acts  had  been 
painting  of  the  boy  during  the  last  twenty-four 
hours.  Notwithstanding  a  meddlesome  aunt,  and 
an  arriving  sweetheart,  and  imminent  wedlock,  he 


THE   STEEL  WASP  273 

hadn't  forgotten  to  stop  "  taking  orders  from  a 
negro  "  at  the  very  first  opportunity  which  came 
to  him  ;  his  phosphates  had  done  this  for  him,  at 
least,  and  I  should  have  the  pleasure  of  correcting 
Juno  at  tea. 

But  I  did  not  have  this  pleasure.  They  were 
all  in  an  excitement  over  something  else,  and  my 
own  different  excitement  hadn't  a  chance  against 
this  greater  one ;  for  people  seldom  wish  to  hear 
what  you  have  to  say,  even  under  the  most  favor 
able  circumstances,  and  never  when  they  have 
anything  to  say  themselves.  With  an  audience 
so  hotly  preoccupied  I  couldn't  have  sat  on  Juno 
effectively  at  all,  and  therefore  I  kept  it  to  myself, 
and  attended  very  slightly  to  what  they  were  tell 
ing  me  about  the  Daughters  of  Dixie. 

I  bowed  absently  to  the  poetess.  "  And  your 
poem?"  I  said.  "A  great  success,  I  am  sure?" 

"  Why,  didn't  you  hear  me  say  so  ?  "  said  the  up- 
country  bride;  and  then,  after  a  smile  at  the 
others,  "  I'm  sure  your  flowers  were  graciously 
accepted." 

"  Ask  Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael,"  I  replied. 

"  Oh,  oh,  oh  !  "  went  the  bride.  "  How  would 
she  know  ? " 

I  gave  myself  no  pains  to  improve  or  arrest 
this  tiresome  joke,  and  they  went  back  to  their 
Daughters  of  Dixie  ;  but  it  is  rather  singular  how 
sometimes  an  utterly  absurd  notion  will  be  the 
cause  of  our  taking  a  step  which  we  had  not  con 
templated.  I  did  carry  some  flowers  to  Miss  La 
Heu  the  next  day.  I  was  at  some  trouble  to  find 
any ;  for  in  Kings  Port  shops  of  this  kind  are  by 
no  means  plentiful,  and  it  was  not  until  I  had 


274  LADY   BALTIMORE 

paid  a  visit  to  a  quite  distant  garden  at  the  extreme 
northwestern  edge  of  the  town  that  I  lighted  upon 
anything  worthy  of  the  girl  behind  the  counter. 
The  Exchange  itself  was  apt  to  have  flowers  for 
sale,  but  I  hardly  saw  my  way  to  buying  them 
there,  and  then  immediately  offering  them  to  the 
fair  person  who  had  sold  them  to  me.  As  it  was, 
I  did  much  better;  for  what  I  brought  her  were 
decidedly  superior  to  any  that  were  at  the  Ex 
change  when  I  entered  it  at  lunch  time. 

They  were,  as  the  up-country  bride  would  have 
put  it,  "graciously  accepted."  Miss  La  Heu 
stood  them  in  water  on  the  counter  beside  her 
ledger.  She  was  looking  lovely. 

"  I  expected  you  yesterday,"  she  said.  "  The 
new  Lady  Baltimore  was  ready." 

"  Well,  H;  it  is  not  all  eaten  yet  —  " 

"  Oh,  no !     Not  a  slice  gone." 

"  Ah,  nobody  does  your  art  justice  here  !  " 

"  Go  and  sit  down  at  your  table,  please." 

It  was  really  quite  difficult  to  say  to  her  from 
that  distance  the  sort  of  things  that  I  wished  to 
say ;  but  there  seemed  to  be  no  help  for  it,  and  I 
did  my  best. 

"  I  shall  miss  my  lunches  here  very  much  when 
I'm  gone." 

"  Did  you  say  coffee  to-day  ?  " 

"  Chocolate.     I  shall  miss  —  " 

"  And  the  lettuce  sandwiches  ?  " 

"  Yes.  You  don't  realize  how  much  these 
lunches  — " 

"  Have  cost  you  ?  "  She  seemed  determined  to 
keep  laughing. 

"  You  have  said  it.     They  have  cost  me  my  —  " 


THE   STEEL  WASP  275 

"  I  can  give  you  the  receipt,  you  know." 

"  The  receipt  ?  " 

"  For  Lady  Baltimore,  to  take  with  you." 

"  You'll  have  to  give  me  a  receipt  for  a  lost 
heart." 

"  Oh,  his  heart !  General,  listen  to  —  "  From 
habit  she  had  turned  to  where  her  dog  used  to 
lie  ;  and  sudden  pain  swept  over  her  face  and  was 
mastered.  "  Never  mind  !  "  she  quickly  resumed. 
"  Please  don't  speak  about  it.  And  you  have  a 
heart  somewhere ;  for  it  was  very  nice  in  you  to 
come  in  yesterday  morning  after  —  after  the 
bridge." 

"  I  hope  I  have  a  heart,"  I  began,  rising ;  for, 
really,  I  could  not  go  on  in  this  way,  sitting  down 
away  back  at  the  lunch  table. 

But  the  door  opened,  and  Hortense  Rieppe 
came  into  the  Woman's  Exchange. 

It  was  at  me  that  she  first  looked,  and  she  gave 
me  the  slightest  bow  possible,  the  least  sign  of 
conventional  recognition  that  a  movement  of  the 
head  could  make  and  be  visible  at  all ;  she  didn't 
bend  her  head  down,  she  tilted  it  ever  so  little  up. 
It  wasn't  new  to  me,  this  form  of  greeting,  and  I 
knew  that  she  had  acquired  it  at  Newport,  and 
that  it  denoted,  all  too  accurately,  the  size  of  my 
importance  in  her  eyes  ;  she  did  it,  as  she  did 
everything,  with  perfection.  Then  she  turned  to 
Eliza  La  Heu,  whose  face  had  become  miracu 
lously-sweet. 

"  Good  morning,"  said  Hortense. 

It  sounded  from  a  quiet  well  of  reserve  music ; 
just  a  cupful  of  melodious  tone  dipped  lightly  out 
of  the  surface.  Her  face  hadn't  become  anything; 


276  LADY   BALTIMORE 

but  it  was  equally  miraculous  in  its  total  void  of 
all  expression  relating  to  this  moment,  or  to  any 
moment;  just  her  beauty,  her  permanent  station 
ary  beauty,  was  there  glowing  in  it  and  through 
it,  not  skin  deep,  but  going  back  and  back  into 
her  lazy  eyes,  and  shining  from  within  the  modu 
lated  bloom  of  her  color  and  the  depths  of  her 
amber  hair.  She  was  choosing,  for  this  occasion, 
to  be  as  impersonal  as  some  radiant  hour  in  na 
ture,  some  mellow,  motionless  day  when  the 
leaves  have  turned,  but  have  not  fallen,  and  it  is 
drowsily  warm  ;  but  it  wasn't  so  much  of  nature 
that  she,  in  her  harmonious  lustre,  reminded  me, 
as  of  some  beautiful  silken-shaded  lamp,  from 
which  color  rather  than  light  came  with  subdued 
ampleness. 

I  saw  her  eyes  settle  upon  the  flowers  that  I 
had  brought  Eliza  La  Heu. 

"  How  beautiful  those  are  !  "  she  remarked. 

"  Is  there  something  that  you  wish  ?  "  inquired 
Miss  La  Heu,  always  miraculously  sweet. 

"Some  of  your  good  things  for  lunch;  a  very 
little,  if  you  will  be  so  kind." 

I  had  gone  back  to  my  table  while  the  "  very 
little  "  was  being  selected,  and  I  felt,  in  spite  of 
how  slightly  she  counted  me,  that  it  would  be  in 
adequate  in  me  to  remain  completely  dumb. 

"  Mr.  May  rant  is  still  at  the  Custom  House  ?  "  I 
observed. 

"For  a  few  days,  yes.  Happily  we  shall  soon 
break  that  connection."  And  she  smelt  my 
flowers. 

" '  We,'  "  I  thought  to  myself,  "  is  rather  tre 
mendous." 


THE   STEEL   WASP  277 

It  grew  more  tremendous  in  the  silence  as  Eliza 
La  Heu  brought  me  my  orders.  Miss  Rieppe 
did  not  seat  herself  to  take  the  light  refreshment 
which  she  found  enough  for  lunch.  Her  plate 
and  cup  were  set  for  her,  but  she  walked  about, 
now  with  one,  and  now  with  the  other,  taking  her 
time  over  it,  and  pausing  here  and  there  at  some 
article  of  the  Exchange  stock. 

Of  course,  she  hadn't  come  there  for  any  lunch  ; 
the  Cornerlys  had  midday  lunch  and  dined  late  ; 
these  innovated  hours  were  a  part  of  Kings  Port's 
deep  suspicion  of  the  Cornerlys ;  but  what  now 
became  interesting  was  her  evident  indifference 
to  our  perceiving  that  lunch  was  merely  a  pretext 
with  her ;  in  fact,  I  think  she  wished  it  to  be  per 
ceived,  and  I  also  think  that  those  turns  which 
she  took  about  the  Exchange  —  her  apparent  in 
spection  of  an  old  mahogany  table,  her  examina 
tion  of  a  pewter  set  —  were  a  symbol  (and  meant 
to  be  a  symbol)  of  how  she  had  all  the  time  there 
was,  and  the  possession  of  everything  she  wished 
including  the  situation,  and  that  she  enjoyed  hav 
ing  this  sink  in  while  she  was  rearranging  what 
ever  she  had  arranged  to  say,  in  consequence  of 
finding  that  I  should  also  hear  it.  And  how  well 
she  was  worth  looking  at,  no  matter  whether  she 
stood,  or  moved,  or  what  she  did  !  Her  age  lay 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  human  eye ;  if  she  was 
twenty-five,  she  was  marvellous  in  her  mastery  of 
her  appearance;  if  she  was  thirty-four,  she  was 
marvellous  in  her  mastery  of  perpetuating  it,  and 
by  no  other  means  than  perfect  dress  personal  to 
herself  (for  she  had  taken  the  fashion  and  welded 
it  into  her  own  plasticity)  and  perfect  health; 


278  LADY   BALTIMORE 

for  without  a  trace  of  the  athletic,  her  graceful 
shape  teemed  with  elasticity.  There  was  a  touch 
of  "  sport  "  in  the  parasol  she  had  laid  down  ;  and 
with  all  her  blended  serenity  there  was  a  touch 
of  "  sport  "  in  her.  Experience  could  teach  her 
beauty  nothing  more  ;  it  wore  the  look  of  having 
been  made  love  to  by  many  married  men. 

Quite  suddenly  the  true  light  flashed  upon  me.  I 
had  been  slow-sighted  indeed  !  So  that  was  what 
she  had  come  here  for  to-day !  Miss  Hortense 
was  going  to  pay  her  compliments  to  Miss  La 
Heu.  I  believe  that  my  sight  might  still  have 
been  slow  but  for  that  miraculous  sweetness  upon 
the  face  of  Eliza.  She  was  ready  for  the  compli 
ments  !  Well,  I  sat  expectant  —  and  disappoint 
ment  was  by  no  means  my  lot. 

Hortense  finished  her  lunch.  "  And  so  this 
interesting  place  is  where  you  work  ? " 

Eliza,  thus  addressed,  assented. 

"  And  you  furnish  wedding  cakes  also  ?  " 

Eliza  was  continuously  and  miraculously  sweet. 
"  The  Exchange  includes  that." 

"  I  shall  hope  you  will  be  present  to  taste  some 
of  yours  on  the  day  it  is  mine." 

"  I  shall  accept  the  invitation  if  my  friends  send 
me  one." 

No  blood  flowed  from  Hortense  at  this,  and 
she  continued  with  the  same  smooth  deliberation. 

"  The  list  is  of  necessity  very  small ;  but  I  shall 
see  that  it  includes  you." 

"  You  are  not  going  to  postpone  it  any  more, 
then?" 

No  blood  flowed  at  this,  either.  "  I  doubt  if 
John  —  if  Mr.  Mayrant  —  would  brook  further 


;  v 


m 
•  . 


"With  all  her  blended  serenity,  there  was  a  touch  of  'sport'  in  her" 


THE   STEEL   WASP  281 

delay,  and  my  father  seems  stronger,  at  last. 
How  much  do  I  owe  you  for  your  very  good 
food  ? " 

It  is  a  pity  that  a  larger  audience  could  not 
have  been  there  to  enjoy  this  skilful  duet,  for  it 
held  me  hanging  on  every  musical  word  of  it. 
There,  at  the  far  back  end  of  the  long  room,  I  sat 
alone  at  my  table,  pretending  to  be  engaged  over 
a  sandwich  that  was  no  more  in  existence  —  ex 
ternal,  I  mean  —  and  a  totally  empty  cup  of  choco 
late.  I  lifted  the  cup,  and  bowed  over  the  plate, 
and  used  the  paper  Japanese  napkin,  and  generally 
went  through  the  various  discreet  paces  of  eating, 
quite  breathless,  all  the  while,  to  know  which  of 
them  was  coming  out  ahead.  There  was  no  fair 
ness  in  their  positions;  Hortense  had  Eliza  in  a 
cage,  penned  in  by  every  fact ;  but  it  doesn't  do 
to  go  too  near  some  birds,  even  when  they're 
caged,  and,  while  these  two  birds  had  been  giv 
ing  their  sweet  manifestations  of  song,  Eliza  had 
driven  a  peck  or  two  home  through  the  bars, 
which,  though  they  did  not  draw  visible  blood, 
as  I  have  said,  probably  taught  Hortense  that  a 
Newport  education  is  not  the  only  instruction 
which  fits  you  for  drawing-room  war  to  the  knife. 

Her  small  reckoning  was  paid,  and  she  had 
drawn  on  one  long,  tawny  glove.  Even  this  act 
was  a  luxury  to  watch,  so  full  it  was  of  the  feminine, 
of  the  stretching,  indolent  ease  that  the  flesh  and 
the  spirit  of  this  creature  invariably  seemed  to 
move  with.  But  why  didn't  she  go  ?  This  be 
came  my  wonder  now,  while  she  slowly  drew  on 
the  second  glove.  She  was  taking  more  time 
than  it  needed.  • 


282  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  Your  flowers  are  for  sale,  too  ?  " 

This,  after  her  silence,  struck  me  as  being  some 
thing  planned  out  after  her  original  plan.  The 
original  plan  had  finished  with  that  second  asser 
tion  of  her  ownership  of  John  (or,  I  had  better  say, 
of  his  ownership  in  her),  that  doubt  she  had  ex 
pressed  as  to  his  being  willing  to  consent  to  any 
further  postponement  of  their  marriage.  Of  course 
she  had  expected,  and  got  herself  ready  for,  some 
thrust  on  the  postponement  subject. 

Eliza  crossed  from  behind  her  counter  to  where 
the  Exchange  flowers  stood  on  the  opposite  side ' 
of  the  room  and  took  some  of  them  up. 

"  But  those  are  -inferior,"  said  Hortense. 
"  These."  And  she  touched  lightly  the  bowl  in 
which  my  roses  stood  close  beside  Eliza's  ledger. 

Eliza  paused  for  one  second.  "  Those  are  not 
for  sale." 

Hortense  paused,  too.  Then  she  hung  to  it. 
"  They  are  so  much  the  best."  She  was  holding 
her  purse. 

"  I  think  so,  too,"  said  Eliza.  "  But  I  cannot 
let  any  one  have  them." 

Hortense  put  her  purse  away.  "  You  know 
best.  Shall  you  furnish  us  flowers  as  well  as 
cake  ?  " 

Eliza's  sweetness  rose  an  octave,  softer  and 
softer.  "  Why,  they  have  flowers  there  !  Didn't 
you  know  ?  " 

And  to  this  last  and  frightful  peck  through  the 
bars  Hortense  found  no  retaliation.  With  a  bow 
to  Eliza,  and  a  total  oblivion  of  me,  she  went  out 
of  the  Exchange.  She  had  flaunted  "  her  "  John 
in  Eliza's  face,  she  had,  as  they  say,  rubbed  it  in 


THE   STEEL   WASP  283 

that  he  was  "her"  John ;  —  but  was  it  such  a  neat, 
tidy  victory,  after  all  ?  She  had  given  away  the 
last  word  to  Eliza,  presented  her  with  that  poison 
ous  speech  which  when  translated  meant :  — 

"Yes,  he's  'your'  John;  and  you're  climbing 
up  him  into  houses  where  you'd  otherwise  be 
arrested  for  trespass."  For  it  was  in  one  of  the 
various  St.  Michael  houses  that  the  marriage 
would  be  held,  owing  to  the  nomadic  state  of  the 
Rieppes. 

Yes,  Hortense  had  gone  altogether  too  close  to 
the  cage  at  the  end,  and,  in  that  repetition  of  her 
taunt  about  "furnishing"  supplies  for  the  wed 
ding,  she  had  at  length  betrayed  something  which 
her  skill  and  the  intricate  enamel  of  her  experience 
had  hitherto,  and  with  entire  success,  concealed  — 
namely,  the  latent  vulgarity  of  the  woman.  She 
was  wearing,  for  the  sake  of  Kings  Port,  her  best 
behavior,  her  most  knowing  form,  and,  indeed, 
it  was  a  well-done  imitation  of  the  real  thing ;  it 
would  last  through  most  occasions,  and  it  would 
deceive  most  people.  But  here  was  the  trouble  : 
she  was  wearing  it ;  while,  through  the  whole  en 
counter,  Eliza  La  Heu  had  worn  nothing  but  her 
natural  and  perfect  dignity;  yet  with  that  disad 
vantage  (for  good  breeding,  alas  !  is  at  times  a  sort 
of  disadvantage,  and  can  be  battered  down  and 
covered  with  mud  so  that  its  own  fine  grain  is  in 
visible)  Eliza  had,  after  a  somewhat  undecisive 
battle,  got  in  that  last  frightful  peck !  But  what 
had  led  Hortense,  after  she  had  come  through 
pretty  well,  to  lose  her  temper  and  thus,  at  the 
finish,  expose  to  Eliza  her  weakest  position  ?  That 
her  clothes  were  paid  for  by  a  Newport  lady  who 


284  LADY   BALTIMORE 

had  taken  her  to  Worth,  that  her  wedding  feast 
was  to  be  paid  for  by  the  bridegroom,  these  were 
not  facts  which  Eliza  would  deign  to  use  as 
weapons ;  but  she  was  marrying  inside  the  doors 
of  Eliza's  Kings  Port,  that  had  never  opened  to 
admit  her  before,  and  she  had  slipped  into  putting 
this  chance  into  Eliza's  hand  —  and  how  had  she 
come  to  do  this  ? 

To  be  sure,  my  vision  had  been  slow  !  Hor- 
tense  had  seen,  through  her  thick  veil,  Eliza's 
interest  in  John  in  the  first  minute  of  her  arrival 
on  the  bridge,  that  minute  when  John  had  run  up 
to  Eliza  after  the  automobile  had  passed  over  poor 
General.  And  Hortense  had  not  revealed  herself 
at  once,  because  she  wanted  a  longer  look  at  them. 
Well,  she  had  got  it,  and  she  had  got  also  a  look 
at  her  affianced  John  when  he  was  in  the  fire- 
eating  mood,  and  had  displayed  the  conduct 
appropriate  to  1840,  while  Charley's  display  had 
been  so  much  more  modern.  And  so  first  she 
had  prudently  settled  that  awkward  phosphate 
difficulty,  and  next  she  had  paid  this  little  visit  to 
Eliza  in  order  to  have  the  pleasure  of  telling  her 
in  four  or  five  different  ways,  and  driving  it  in 
deep,  and  turning  it  round:  "  Don  t  you  wish  you 
may  get  him  ?  " 

"  That's  all  clear  as  day,"  I  said  to  myself. 
"  But  what  does  her  loss  of  temper  mean? " 

Eliza  was  writing  at  her  ledger.  The  sweet 
ness  hadn't  entirely  gone  ;  it  was  too  soon  for  that, 
and  besides,  she  knew  I  must  be  looking  at  her. 

"  Couldn't  you  have  told  her  they  were  my 
flowers  ? "  I  asked  her  at  the  counter,  as  I  pre 
pared  to  depart. 


THE   STEEL  WASP  285 

Eliza  did  not  look  up  from  her  ledger.  "  Do 
you  think  she  would  have  believed  me  ?  " 

"  And  why  shouldn't  —  " 

"  Go  out!"  she  interrupted  imperiously  and  with 
a  stamp  of  her  foot.  "  You've  been  here  long 
enough ! " 

You  may  imagine  my  amazement  at  this.  It 
was  not  until  I  had  reached  Mrs.  Trevise's,  and 
was  sitting  down  to  answer  a  note  which  had  been 
left  for  me,  that  light  again  came.  Hortense 
Rieppe  had  thought  those  flowers  were  from  John 
Mayrant,  and  Eliza  had  let  her  think  so. 

Yes,  that  was  light,  a  good  bright  light  shed  on 
the  matter;  but  a  still  more  brilliant  beam  was 
cast  by  the  up-country  bride  when  I  came  into  the 
dining-room.  I  told  her  myself,  at  once,  that  I  had 
taken  flowers  to  Miss  La  Heu ;  I  preferred  she 
should  hear  this  from  me  before  she  learned  it 
from  the  smiling  lips  of  gossip.  It  surprised  me 
that  she  should  immediately  inquire  what  kind  of 
flowers  ? 

"  Why,  roses,"  I  answered ;  and  she  went  into 
peals  of  laughter. 

"  Pray  share  the  jest,"  I  begged  her  with  some 
dignity. 

"  Didn't  you  know,"  she  replied,  "  the  language 
that  roses  from  a  single  gentleman  to  a  young 
lady  speak  in  Kings  Port  ?  " 

I  stood  staring  and  stiff,  taking  it  in,  taking 
myself,  and  Eliza,  and  Hortense,  and  the  impli 
cated  John,  all  in. 

"  Why,  aivrybody  in  Kings  Port  knows  that !  " 
said  the  bride ;  and  now  my  mirth  rose  even 
above  hers.  • 


XVII 

DOING   THE    HANDSOME    THING 

TT  by  no  means  lessened  my  pleasure  to  discern 
•*-  that  Hortense  must  feel  herself  to  be  in  a  pre 
dicament  ;  and  as  I  sat  writing  my  answer  to  the 
note,  which  was  from  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael 
and  contained  an  invitation  to  me  for  the  next 
afternoon,  I  thought  of  those  pilots  whose  dangers 
have  come  down  to  us  from  distant  times  through 
the  songs  of  ancient  poets.  The  narrow  and  tem 
pestuous  channel  between  Scylla  and  Charybdis 
bristled  unquestionably  with  violent  problems,  but 
with  none,  I  should  suppose,  that  called  for  a  nicer 
hand  upon  the  wheel,  or  an  eye  more  alert,  than 
this  steering  of  your  little  trireme  to  a  successful 
marriage,  between  one  man  who  believed  himself 
to  be  your  destined  bridegroom  and  another  who 
expected  to  be  so,  meanwhile  keeping  each  in 
ignorance  of  how  close  you  were  sailing  to  the 
other.  In  Hortense's  place  I  should  have  wished 
to  hasten  the  wedding  now,  have  it  safely  per 
formed  this  afternoon,  say,  or  to-morrow  morn 
ing;  thus  precipitated  by  some  invaluable  turn 
in  the  health  of  her  poor  dear  father.  But  she 
had  worn  it  out,  his  health,  by  playing  it  for 
decidedly  as  much  as  it  could  bear;  it  couldn't 
be  used  again  without  risk ;  the  date  must  stand 
fixed ;  and,  uneasy  as  she  might  have  begun  to  be 

286 


DOING  THE   HANDSOME  THING  287 

about  John,  Hortense  must,  with  no  shortening 
of  the  course,  get  her  boat  in  safe  without  smash 
ing  it  against  either  John  or  Charley.  I  wondered 
a  little  that  she  should  feel  any  uncertainty  about 
her  affianced  lover.  She  must  know  how  much 
his  word  was  to  him,  and  she  had  had  his  word 
twice,  given  her  the  second  time  to  put  his  own 
honor  right  with  her  on  the  score  of  the  phos 
phates.  But  perhaps  Hortense's  rich  experiences 
of  life  had  taught  her  that  a  man's  word  to  a 
woman  should  not  be  subjected  to  the  test  of 
another  woman's  advent.  On  the  whole,  I  sup 
pose  it  was  quite  natural  those  flowers  should 
annoy  her,  and  equally  natural  that  Eliza,  the 
minx,  should  allow  them  to  do  so !  There's  a 
joy  to  the  marrow  in  watching  your  enemy  har 
ried  and  discomfited  by  his  own  gratuitous  con 
trivances  ;  you  look  on  serenely  at  a  show  which 
hasn't  cost  you  a  groat.  However,  poor  Eliza 
had  not  been  so  serene  at  the  very  end,  when  she 
stormed  out  at  me.  For  this  I  did  not  have  to 
forgive  her,  of  course,  little  as  I  had  merited  such 
treatment.  Had  she  not  accepted  my  flowers  ? 
But  it  was  a  gratification  to  reflect  that  in  my 
sentimental  passages  with  her  I  had  not  gone  to 
any  great  length ;  nothing,  do  I  ever  find,  is  so 
irksome  as  the  sense  of  having  unwittingly  been 
in  a  false  position.  Was  John,  on  his  side,  in  love 
with  her?  Was  it  possible  he  would  fail  in  his 
word  ?  So  with  these  thoughts,  while  answering 
and  accepting  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael's  invi 
tation  to  make  one  of  a  party  of  strangers  to 
whom  she  was  going  to  show  another  old  Kings 
Port  church,  "  where  many  of  my  ancestors  lie," 


288  LADY   BALTIMORE 

as  her  note  informed  me,  I  added  one  sentence 
which  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject.  "  She 
is  a  steel  wasp,"  I  ventured  to  say.  And  when 
on  the  next  afternoon  I  met  the  party  at  the 
church,  I  received  from  the  little  lady  a  look  of 
highly  spiced  comprehension  as  she  gently  re 
marked,  "  I  was  glad  to  get  your  acceptance." 

When  I  went  down  to  the  dinner-table,  Juno 
sat  in  her  best  clothes,  still  discussing  the  Daugh 
ters  of  Dixie. 

I  can't  say  that  I  took  much  more  heed  of  this 
at  dinner  than  I  had  done  at  tea;  but  I  was 
interested  to  hear  Juno  mention  that  she,  too, 
intended  to  call  upon  Hortense  Rieppe.  Kings 
Port,  she  said,  must  take  a  consistent  position ; 
and  for  her  part,  so  far  as  behavior  went,  she 
didn't  see  much  to  choose  between  the  couple. 
"As  to  whether  Mr.  Mayrant  had  really  con 
cealed  the  discovery  of  his  fortune,"  she  con 
tinued,  "  I  asked  Miss  Josephine  —  in  a  perfectly 
nice  way,  of  course.  But  old  Mr.  St.  Michael 
Beaugar9on,  who  has  always  had  the  estate  in 
charge,  did  that.  It  is  only  a  life  estate,  unless 
Mr.  Mayrant  has  lawful  issue.  Well,  he  will 
have  that  now,  and  all  that  money  will  be  his  to 
squander." 

Aunt  Carola  had  written  me  again  this  morn 
ing,  but  I  had  been  in  no  haste  to  open  her  letter ; 
my  neglect  of  the  Bombos  did  not  weigh  too 
heavily  upon  me,  I  fear,  but  I  certainly  did  put  off 
reading  what  I  expected  to  be  a  reprimand.  And 
concerning  this  I  was  right;  her  first  words 
betokened  reprimand  at  once.  "  My  dear  nephew 
Augustus,"  she  began,  in  her  fine,  elegant  hand- 


DOING  THE   HANDSOME   THING  289 

writing.  That  was  always  her  mode  of  address  to 
me  when  something  was  coming,  while  at  other 
times  it  would  be,  less  portentously,  "  My  dear 
Augustus,"  or  "  My  dear  nephew  " ;  but  whenever 
my  name  and  my  relationship  to  her  occurred 
conjointly,  I  took  the  communication  away  with 
me  to  some  corner,  and  opened  it  in  solitude. 

It  wasn't  about  the  Bombos,  though ;  and  for 
what  she  took  me  to  task  I  was  able  to  defend 
myself,  I  think,  quite  adequately.  She  found  fault 
with  me  for  liking  the  South  too  much,  and  this 
she  based  upon  the  enthusiastic  accounts  of  Kings 
Port  and  its  people  that  I  had  written  to  her;  nor 
had  she  at  all  approved  of  my  remarks  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  negro,  called  forth  by  Daddy  Ben  and 
his  grandson  Charles  Cotesworth. 

"  When  I  sent  you  (wrote  Aunt  Carola)  to 
admire  Kings  Port  good-breeding,  I  did  not  send 
you  to  forget  your  country.  Remember  that  those 
people  were  its  mortal  enemies ;  that  besides  their 
treatment  of  our  prisoners  in  Libby  and  Ander- 
sonville  (which  killed  my  brother  Alexander)  they 
displayed  in  their  dealings,  both  social  and  politi 
cal,  an  arrogance  in  success  and  a  childish  petu 
lance  at  opposition,  which  we  who  saw  and 
suffered  can  never  forget,  any  more  than  we  can 
forget  our  loved  ones  who  laid  down  their  lives 
for  this  cause." 

These  were  not  the  only  words  with  which 
Aunt  Carola  reproved  what  she  termed  my  "  dis 
loyalty,"  but  they  will  serve  to  indicate  her  feeling 
about  the  Civil  War.  It  was  —  on  her  side  — 
precisely  the  feeling  of  all  the  Kings  Port  old 
ladies  on  their  side.  But  why  should  it  be  mine  ? 


290  LADY   BALTIMORE 

And  so,  after  much  thinking  how  I  might  best 
reply  respectfully  yet  say  to  Aunt  Carola  what  my 
feeling  was,  I  sat  down  upstairs  at  my  window, 
and,  after  some  preliminary  sentences,  wrote :  — 

"  There  are  dead  brothers  here  also,  who,  like 
your  brother,  laid  down  their  lives  for  what  they 
believed  was  their  country,  and  whom  their  sisters 
never  can  forget  as  you  can  never  forget  him.  I 
read  their  names  upon  sad  church  tablets,  and 
their  boy  faces  look  out  at  me  from  cherished 
miniatures  and  dim  daguerreotypes.  Upon  their 
graves  the  women  who  mourn  them  leave  flowers 
as  you  leave  flowers  upon  the  grave  of  your  young 
soldier.  You  will  tell  me,  perhaps,  that  since  the 
bereavement  is  equal,  I  have  not  justified  my 
sympathy  for  these  people.  But  the  bereavement 
was  not  equal.  More  homes  here  were  robbed  by 
death  of  their  light  and  promise  than  with  us; 
and  to  this  you  must  add  the  material  desolation 
of  the  homes  themselves.  Our  roofs  were  not  laid 
in  ashes,  and  to-day  we  sit  in  affluence  while  they 
sit  in  privation.  You  will  say  to  this,  perhaps, 
that  they  brought  it  upon  themselves.  But  even 
granting  that  they  did  so,  surely  to  suffer  and  to 
lose  is  more  bitter  than  to  suffer  and  to  win.  My 
dear  aunt,  you  could  not  see  what  I  have  seen 
here,  and  write  to  me  as  you  do ;  and  if  those  years 
have  left  upon  your  heart  a  scar  which  will  not 
vanish,  do  not  ask  me,  who  came  afterward,  to 
wear  the  scar  also.  I  should  then  resemble  cer 
tain  of  the  younger  ones  here,  with  less  excuse 
than  is  theirs.  As  for  the  negro,  forgive  me  if  I 
assure  you  that  you  retain  an  Abolitionist  exalta 
tion  for  a  creature  who  does  not  exist,  or  whose 


DOING  THE   HANDSOME   THING  291 

existence  is  an  ineffectual  drop  in  the  bucket,  a 
creature  on  grateful  knees  raising  faithful  eyes  to 
one  who  has  struck  off  his  chains  of  slavery, 
whereas  the  creature  who  does  exist  is  —  " 

I  paused  here  in  my  letter  to  Aunt  Carola,  and 
sought  for  some  fitting  expression  that  should 
characterize  for  her  with  sufficient  severity  the 
new  type  of  deliberately  worthless  negro  ;  and  as 
I  sought,  my  eyes  wandered  to  the  garden  next 
door,  the  garden  of  the  Cornerlys.  On  a  bench 
near  a  shady  arrangement  of  vines  over  bars  sat 
Hortense  Rieppe.  She  was  alone,  and,  from  her 
attitude,  seemed  to  be  thinking  deeply.  The  high 
walls  of  the  garden  shut  her  into  a  privacy  that 
her  position  near  the  shady  vines  still  more 
increased.  It  was  evident  that  she  had  come  here 
for  the  sake  of  being  alone,  and  I  regretted  that 
she  was  so  turned  from  me  that  I  could  not  see 
her  face.  But  her  solitude  did  not  long  continue ; 
there  came  into  view  a  gentleman  of  would-be 
venerable  appearance,  who  approached  her  with 
a  walk  carefully  constructed  for  public  admiration, 
and  who,  upon  reaching  her,  bent  over  with  the 
same  sort  of  footlight  elaboration  and  gave  her  a 
paternal  kiss.  I  did  not  need  to  hear  her  call  him 
father;  he  was  so  obviously  General  Rieppe,  the 
prudent  hero  of  Chattanooga,  that  words  would 
have  been  perfectly  superfluous  in  his  identifica 
tion. 

I  was  destined  upon  another  day  to  hear  the 
tones  of  his  voice,  and  thereupon  may  as  well 
state  now  that  they  belonged  altogether  with  the 
rest  of  him.  There  is  a  familiar  type  of  Northern 
fraud,  and  a  Southern  type,  equally  familiar,  but 


292  LADY   BALTIMORE 

totally  different  in  appearance.  The  Northern 
type  has  the  straight,  flat,  earnest  hair,  the  shaven 
upper  lip,  the  chin-beard,  and  the  benevolent  reli 
gious  expression.  He  will  be  the  president  of 
several  charities,  and  the  head  of  one  great  busi 
ness.  He  plays  no  cards,  drinks  no  wine,  and 
warns  young  men  to  beware  of  temptation.  He 
is  as  genial  as  a  hair-sofa ;  and  he  is  seldom  found 
out  by  the  public  unless  some  financial  crash  in 
general  affairs  uncovers  his  cheating,  which  lies 
most  often  beyond  the  law's  reach ;  and  because 
he  cannot  be  put  in  jail,  he  quite  honestly  believes 
heaven  is  his  destination.  We  see  less  of  him 
since  we  have  ceased  to  be  a  religious  country, 
religion  no  longer  being  an  essential  disguise  for 
him.  The  Southern  type,  with  his  unction  and 
his  juleps,  is  better  company, unless  he  is  the  hero 
of  too  many  of  his  own  anecdotes.  He  is  com 
monly  the  possessor  of  a  poetic  gaze,  a  mane  of 
silvery  hair,  and  a  noble  neck.  As  war  days  and 
cotton-factor  days  recede  into  a  past  more  and 
more  filmed  over  with  romance,  he  too  grows  rare 
among  us,  and  I  regret  it,  for  he  was  in  truth  a 
picturesque  figure.  General  Rieppe  was  perfect. 

At  first  I  was  sorry  that  the  distance  they  were 
from  me  rendered  hearing  what  they  were  saying 
impossible ;  very  soon,  however,  the  frame  of  my 
open  window  provided  me  with  a  living  picture 
which  would  have  been  actually  spoiled  had  the 
human  voice  disturbed  its  eloquent  pantomime. 

General  Rieppe's  daughter  responded  to  her 
father's  caress  but  languidly,  turning  to  him  her 
face,  with  its  luminous,  stationary  beauty.  He 
pointed  to  the  house,  and  then  waved  his  hand 


DOING  THE   HANDSOME   THING  293 

toward  the  bench  where  she  sat;  and  she,  in 
response  to  this,  nodded  slightly.  Upon  which 
the  General,  after  another  kiss  of  histrionic  pater 
nity  administered  to  her  forehead,  left  her  sitting 
and  proceeded  along  the  garden  walk  at  a  stately 
pace,  until  I  could  no  longer  see  him.  Hortense, 
left  alone  upon  the  bench,  looked  down  at  the 
folds  of  her  dress,  extended  a  hand  and  slowly 
rearranged  one  of  them,  and  then,  with  the  same 
hand,  felt  her  hair  from  front  to  back.  This  had 
scarce  been  accomplished  when  the  General  re 
appeared,  ushering  Juno  along  the  walk,  and 
bearing  a  chair  with  him.  When  they  turned 
the  corner  at  the  arbor,  Hortense  rose,  and  greet 
ings  ensued.  Few  objects  could  be  straighter 
than  was  Juno's  back;  her  card-case  was  in  her 
hand,  but  her  pocket  was  not  quite  large  enough 
for  the  whole  of  her  pride,  which  stuck  out  so 
that  it  could  have  been  seen  from  a  greater  dis 
tance  than  my  window.  The  General  would  have 
departed,  placing  his  chair  for  the  visitor,  when 
Hortense  waved  for  him  an  inviting  hand  toward 
the  bench  beside  her ;  he  waved  a  similarly  invit 
ing  hand,  looking  at  Juno,  who  thereupon  sat 
firmly  down  upon  the  chair.  At  this  the  General 
hovered  heavily,  looking  at  his  daughter,  who  gave 
him  no  look  in  return,  as  she  engaged  in  conver 
sation  with  Juno;  and  presently  the  General  left 
them.  Juno's  back  and  Hortense's  front,  both 
entirely  motionless  as  they  interviewed  each  other, 
presented  a  stiff  appearance,  with  Juno  half  turned 
in  her  seat  and  Hortense's  glance  following  her 
slight  movement ;  the  two  then  rose,  as  the  Gen 
eral  came  down  the  walk  with  two  chairs  and 


294  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Mrs.  Gregory  and  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael. 
Juno,  with  a  bow  to  them,  approached  Hortense 
by  a  step  or  two,  a  brief  touch  of  their  fingers  was 
to  be  seen,  and  Juno's  departure  took  place,  at 
tended  by  the  heavy  hovering  of  General  Rieppe. 

"  That's  why !  "  I  said  to  myself  aloud,  suddenly, 
at  my  open  window.  Immediately,  however,  I 
added,  "  but  can  it  be  ? "  And  in  my  mind  a 
whole  little  edifice  of  reasons  for  Hortense's 
apparent  determination  to  marry  John  instantly 
fabricated  itself  —  and  then  fell  down. 

Through  John  she  was  triumphantly  bringing 
stiff  Kings  Port  to  her,  was  forcing  them  to  ac 
cept  her.  But  this  was  scarce  enough  temptation 
for  Hortense  to  marry  ;  she  could  do  very  well 
without  Kings  Port  —  indeed,  she  was  not  very 
likely  to  show  herself  in  it,  save  to  remind  them, 
now  and  then,  that  she  was  there,  and  that  they 
could  not  keep  her  out  any  more ;  this  might 
amuse  her  a  little,  but  the  society  itself  would  not 
amuse  her  in  the  least.  What  place  had  it  for 
her  to  smoke  her  cigarettes  in  ? 

Eliza  La  Heu,  then?  Spite?  The  pleasure 
of  taking  something  that  somebody  else  wanted  ? 
The  pleasure  of  spoiling  somebody  else's  pleasure  ? 
Or,  more  accurately,  the  pleasure  of  power  ?  Well, 
yes ;  that  might  be  it,  if  Hortense  Rieppe  were 
younger  in  years,  and  younger,  especially,  in  soul ; 
but  her  museum  was  too  richly  furnished  with 
specimens  of  the  chase,  she  had  collected  too 
many  bits  and  bibelots  from  life's  Hotel  Druot 
and  the  great  bazaar  of  female  competition,  to  pay 
so  great  a  price  as  marriage  for  merely  John  ; 
particularly  when  a  lady,  even  in  Newport,  can 


DOING   THE   HANDSOME   THING  295 

have  but  one  husband  at  a  time  in  her  collection. 
If  she  did  actually  love  John,  as  Beverly  Rodgers 
had  reluctantly  come  to  believe,  it  was  most  in 
appropriate  in  her  !  Had  I  followed  out  the 
train  of  reasoning  which  lay  coiled  up  inside 
the  word  inappropriate,  I  might  have  reached 
the  solution  which  eventually  Hortense  herself 
gave  me,  and  the  jewelled  recesses  of  her  nature 
would  have  blazed  still  more  brilliantly  to  my 
eyes  to-day;  but  in  truth,  my  soul  wasn't  old 
enough  yet  to  work  Hortense  out  by  itself,  un 
aided  ! 

While  Mrs.  Gregory  and  Mrs.  Weguelin  sat  on 
their  chairs,  and  Hortense  sat  on  her  bench,  tea 
was  brought  and  a  table  laid,  behind  whose  white 
ness  and  silver  Hortense  began  slight  offices  with 
cups  and  sugar  tongs.  She  looked  inquiry  at  her 
visitors,  in  answer  to  which  Mrs.  Gregory  indi 
cated  acceptance,  and  Mrs.  Weguelin  refusal. 
The  beauty  of  Hortense's  face  had  strangely  in 
creased  since  the  arrival  of  these  two  visitors.  It 
shone  resplendent  behind  the  silver  and  the  white 
cloth,  and  her  movement,  as  she  gave  the  cup  to 
Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael,  was  one  of  complete 
grace  and  admirable  propriety.  Butonceshe  looked 
away  from  them  in  the  direction  of  the  path. 
Her  two  visitors  rose  and  left  her,  Mrs.  Gregory 
setting  her  tea-cup  down  with  a  gesture  that  said 
she  would  take  no  more,  and,  after  their  bows  of 
farewell,  Hortense  sat  alone  again  pulling  about 
the  tea  things. 

I  saw  that  by  the  table  lay  a  card-case  on  the 
ground,  evidently  dropped  by  Mrs.  Gregory ;  but 
Hortense  could  not  see  it  where  she  sat.  Her 


296  LADY   BALTIMORE 

quick  look  along  the  path  heralded  more  company 
and  the  General  with  more  chairs.  Young  people 
now  began  to  appear,  the  various  motions  of  whom 
were  more  animated  than  the  approaches  and 
greetings  and  farewells  of  their  elders ;  chairs 
were  moved  and  exchanged,  the  General  was  use 
ful  in  handling  cups,  and  a  number  of  faces  un 
known  to  me  came  and  went,  some  of  them  elderly 
ones  whom  I  had  seen  in  church,  or  passed  while 
walking;  the  black  dresses  of  age  mingled  with 
the  brighter  colors  of  youth  ;  and  on  her  bench 
behind  the  cups  sat  Hortense,  or  rose  up  at  right 
moments,  radiant,  restrained  and  adequate,  receiv 
ing  with  deferential  attention  the  remarks  of  some 
dark-clothed  elder,  or,  with  sufficiently  interested 
countenance,  inquiring  something  from  a  brighter 
one  of  her  own  generation  ;  but  twice  I  saw  her 
look  up  the  garden  path.  None  of  them  stayed 
long,  although  when  they  were  all  gone  the  shadow 
of  the  garden  wall  had  come  as  far  as  the 
arbor;  and  once  again  Hortense  sat  alone  behind 
the  table,  leaning  back  with  arms  folded,  and  look 
ing  straight  in  front  of  her.  At  last  she  stirred, 
and  rose  slowly,  and  then,  with  a  movement  which 
was  the  perfection  of  timidity,  began  to  advance, 
as  John,  with  his  Aunt  Eliza,  came  along  the  path. 
To  John,  Hortense  with  familiar  yet  discreet 
brightness  gave  a  left  hand,  as  she  waited  for  the 
old  lady;  and  then  the  old  lady  went  through 
with  it.  What  that  embrace  of  acknowledgment 
cost  her  cannot  be  measured,  and  during  its  process 
John  stood  like  a  sentinel.  Possibly  this  was  the 
price  of  his  forgiveness  to  his  Aunt  Eliza. 

The  visitors  accepted   tea,  and  the  beauty  in 


DOING  THE   HANDSOME   THING  297 

Hortense's  face  was  now  supreme.  The  old  lady 
sat,  forgetting  to  drink  her  tea,  but  very  still  in 
outward  attitude,  as  she  talked  with  Hortense ; 
and  the  sight  of  one  hand  in  its  glove  lying  mo 
tionless  upon  her  best  dress,  suddenly  almost  drew 
unexpected  tears  to  my  eyes.  John  was  nearly  as 
quiet  as  she,  but  the  glove  that  he  held  was  twisted 
between  his  fingers.  I  expected  that  he  would 
stay  with  his  Hortense  when  his  aunt  took  her 
leave  ;  he,  however,  was  evidently  expected  by  the 
old  lady  to  accompany  her  out  and  back,  I  suppose, 
to  her  house,  as  was  proper. 

But  John's  departure  from  Hortense  differed 
from  his  meeting  her.  She  gave  no  left  hand  to 
him  now ;  she  gazed  at  him,  and  then,  as  the  old 
lady  began  to  go  toward  the  house,  she  moved  a 
step  toward  him,  and  then  she  cast  herself  into 
his  arms !  It  was  no  acting,  this,  no  skilful  simu 
lation  ;  her  head  sank  upon  his  shoulder,  and  true 
passion  spoke  in  every  line  of  that  beautiful  sur 
rendered  form,  as  it  leaned  against  her  lover's. 

"  So  that's  why ! "  I  exclaimed,  once  more 
aloud. 

It  was  but  a  moment ;  and  John,  released,  fol 
lowed  Miss  Eliza.  The  old  lady  walked  slowly, 
with  that  half-failing  step  that  betokens  the  body's 
weariness  after  great  mental  or  moral  strain. 
Indeed,  as  John  regained  her  side,  she  put  her 
arm  in  his  as  if  her  feebleness  needed  his  support. 
Thus  they  went  away  together,  the  aunt  and  her 
beloved  boy,  who  had  so  sorely  grieved  and  dis 
appointed  her. 

But  if  this  sight  touched  me,  this  glimpse  of 
the  vanquished  leaving  the  field  after  supreme 


298  LADY  BALTIMORE 

acknowledgment  of  defeat,  upon  Hortense  it 
wrought  another  effect  altogether.  She  stood 
looking  after  them,  and  as  she  looked,  the  whole 
woman  from  head  to  foot,  motionless  as  she  was, 
seemed  to  harden.  Yet  still  she  looked,  until  at 
length,  slowly  turning,  her  eyes  chanced  to  fall 
upon  Mrs.  Gregory  St.  Michael's  card-case. 
There  it  lay,  the  symbol  of  Kings  Port's  capitula 
tion.  She  swooped  down  and  up  with  a  flying 
curve  of  grace,  holding  her  prey  caught;  and 
then,  catching  also  her  handsome  skirts  on  either 
side,  she  danced  like  a  whirling  fan  among  the 
empty  chairs. 


XVIII 

AGAIN    THE    REPLACERS 

RUT  a  little  while,  and  all  that  I  had  just  wit- 
nessed  in  such  vivid  dumb-show  might  have 
seemed  to  me  in  truth  some  masque ;  so  smooth 
had  it  been,  and  voiceless,  coming  and  going  like 
a  devised  fancy.  And  after  the  last  of  the  players 
was  gone  from  the  stage,  leaving  the  white  cloth, 
and  the  silver,  and  the  cups,  and  the  groups  of 
chairs  near  the  pleasant  arbor,  I  watched  the 
deserted  garden  whence  the  sunlight  was  slowly 
departing,  and  it  seemed  to  me  more  than  ever 
like  some  empty  and  charming  scene  in  a  play 
house,  to  which  the  comedians  would  in  due  time 
return  to  repeat  their  delicate  pantomime.  But 
these  were  mental  indulgences,  with  which  -I  sat 
playing  until  the  sight  of  my  interrupted  letter  to 
Aunt  Carola  on  the  table  before  me  brought  the 
reality  of  everything  back  into  my  thoughts  ;  and 
I  shook  my  head  over  Miss  Eliza.  I  remembered 
that  hand  of  hers,  lying  in  despondent  acqui 
escence  upon  her  lap,  as  the  old  lady  sat  in  her 
best  dress,  formally  and  faithfully  accepting  the 
woman  whom  her  nephew  John  had  brought  upon 
them  as  his  bride-elect  —  formally  and  faithfully 
accepting  this  distasteful  person,  and  thus  aton 
ing  as  best  she  could  to  her  beloved  nephew  for 
the  wrong  that  her  affection  had  led  her  to  do 

299 


300  LADY   BALTIMORE 

him  in  that  ill-starred  and  inexcusable  tampering 
with  his  affairs. 

But  there  was  my  letter  waiting.  I  took  my 
pen,  and  finished  what  I  had  to  say  about  the 
negro  and  the  injustice  we  had  done  to  him,  as 
well  as  to  our  own  race,  by  the  Fifteenth  Amend 
ment.  I  wrote :  — 

"  I  think  Northerners  must  often  seem  to  these 
people  strangely  obtuse  in  their  attitude.  And 
they  deserve  such  opinion,  since  all  they  need  to 
do  is  come  here  and  see  for  themselves  what  the 
War  did  to  the  South. 

"  You  may  have  a  perfectly  just  fight  with  a 
man  and  beat  him  rightly ;  but  if  you  are  able  to 
go  on  with  your  work  next  day,  while  his  health 
is  so  damaged  that  for  a  long  while  he  limps  about 
as  a  cripple,  you  must  not  look  up  from  your  busy 
thriving  and  reproach  him  with  his  helplessness, 
and  remind  him  of  its  cause ;  nor  must  you  be  sur 
prised  that  he  remembers  the  fight  longer  than 
you  have  time  for.  I  know  that  the  North  meant 
to  be  magnanimous,  that  the  North  was  magnani 
mous,  that  the  spirit  of  Grant  at  Appomattox  filled 
many  breasts ;  and  I  know  that  the  magnanimity 
was  not  met  by  those  who  led  the  South  aftei 
Lee's  retirement,  and  before  reconstruction  set  in, 
and  that  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  was  brought 
on  by  their  own  doings  :  when  have  two  wrongs 
made  a  right?  And  to  place  the  negro  above 
these  people  was  an  atrocity.  You  cannot  expect 
them  to  inquire  very  industriously  how  magnani 
mous  this  North  meant  to  be,  when  they  have 
suffered  at  her  hands  worse,  far  worse,  than  France 
suffered  from  Germany's  after  1870. 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS  301 

"  I  do  think  there  should  be  a  different  spirit 
among  some  of  the  later-born,  but  I  have  come 
to  understand  even  the  slights  and  suspicions 
from  which  I  here  and  there  suffer,  since  to  their 
minds,  shut  in  by  circumstance,  I'm  always  a 
'  Yankee.' 

"  We  are  prosperous  ;  and  prosperity  does  not 
bind,  it  merely  assembles  people — at  dinners  and 
dances.  It  is  adversity  that  binds  —  beside  the 
gravestone,  beneath  the  desolated  roof.  Could 
you  come  here  and  see  what  I  have  seen,  the 
retrospect  of  suffering,  the  long,  lingering  con 
valescence,  the  small  outlook  of  vigor  to  come, 
and  the  steadfast  sodality  of  affliction  and  affec 
tion  and  fortitude,  your  kind  but  unenlightened 
heart  would  be  wrung,  as  mine  has  been,  and  is 
being,  at  every  turn." 

After  I  had  posted  this  reply  to  Aunt  Carola, 
I  had  some  fears  that  my  pen  had  run  away  with 
me,  and  that  she  might  now  descend  upon  me 
with  that  reproof  which  she  knew  so  well  how  to 
exercise  in  cases  of  disrespect.  But  there  was 
actually  a  certain  pathos  in  her  mildness  when  it 
came.  She  felt  it  her  duty  to  go  over  a  good  deal 
of  history  first,  but :  — 

"  I  do  not  understand  the  present  generation," 
she  finished,  "  and  I  suppose  that  I  was  not 
meant  to." 

The  little  sigh  in  these  words  did  great  credit 
to  Aunt  Carola. 

This  vindication  off  my  mind,  and  relieved  by 
it  of  the  more  general  thoughts  about  Kings  Port 
and  the  South,  which  the  pantomime  of  Kings 
Port's  forced  capitulation  to  Hortense  had  raised 


302  LADY    BALTIMORE 

in  me,  I  returned  to  the  personal  matters  between 
that  young  woman  and  John,  and  Charley.  How 
much  did  Charley  know  ?  How  much  would 
Charley  stand  ?  How  much  would  John  stand, 
if  he  came  to  know  ? 

Well,  the  scene  in  the  garden  now  helped  me 
to  answer  these  questions  much  better  than  I 
could  have  answered  them  before  its  occurrence. 
With  one  fact  —  the  great  fact  of  love  —  estab 
lished,  it  was  not  difficult  to  account  for  at  least 
one  or  two  of  the  several  things  that  puzzled  me. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  that  Hortense  loved 
John  Mayrant,  loved  him  beyond  her  own  control. 
When  this  love  had  begun,  made  no  matter.  Per 
haps  it  began  on  the  bridge,  when  the  money  was 
torn,  and  Eliza  La  Heu  had  appeared.  The  Kings 
Port  version  of  Hortense's  indifference  to  John 
before  the  event  of  the  phosphates  might  well 
enough  be  true.  It  might  even  well  enough  be 
true  that  she  had  taken  him  and  his  phosphates 
at  Newport  for  lack  of  anything  better  at  hand, 
and  because  she  was  sick  of  disappointed  hopes. 
In  this  case,  Charley's  subsequent  appearance  as 
something  very  much  .better  (if  the  phosphates 
were  to  fail)  would  perfectly  explain  the  various 
postponements  of  the  wedding. 

So  I  was  able  to  answer  my  questions  to  my 
self  thus :  How  much  did  Charley  know  ?  —  Just 
what  he  could  see  for  himself,  and  what  he  had 
most  likely  heard  from  Newport  gossip.  He 
could  have  heard  of  an  old  engagement,  made 
purely  for  money's  sake,  and  of  recent  delays 
created  by  the  lady ;  and  he  could  see  the  gentle 
man  —  an  impossible  husband  from  a  Wall  Street 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS  303 

standpoint !  —  to  whom  Hortense  was  evidently 
tempering  her  final  refusal  by  indulgently  taking 
an  interest  in  helping  along  his  phosphate  for 
tune.  Charley  would  not  refuse  to  lend  her  his 
aid  in  this  estimable  benevolence ;  nor  would  it 
occur  to  Charley's  sensibilities  how  such  benevo 
lence  would  be  taken  by  John  if  John  were  not 
"taken  "  himself.  Yes,  Charley  was  plainly  fooled, 
and  fooled  the  more  readily  because  he  had  the 
old  version  of  the  truth.  How  should  he  suspect 
there  was  a  revised  version  ?  How  should  he  dis 
cover  that  passion  had  now  changed  sides,  that  it 
was  now  John  who  allowed  himself  to  be  loved  ? 
The  signs  of  this  did  not  occur  before  his  eyes. 
Of  course,  Charley  would  not  stay  fooled  forever ; 
the  hours  of  that  were  numbered,  —  but  their 
number  was  quite  beyond  my  guessing ! 

How  much  would  Charley  stand  ?  He  would 
stand  a  good  deal,  because  the  measure  of 
his  toleration  was  the  measure  of  his  desire  for 
Hortense;  and  it  was  plain  that  he  wanted  her 
very  much  indeed.  But  how  much  would  John 
stand  ?  How  soon  would  his  "  fire-eating  "  tradi 
tions  produce  a  "  difficulty  "  ?  Why  had  they 
not  done  this  already?  Well,  the  garden  had  in 
some  way  helped  me  to  frame  a  fairly  reasonable 
answer  for  this  also.  Poor  Hortense  had  become 
as  powerless  to  woo  John  to  warmth  as  poor 
Venus  had  been  with  Adonis;  and  passion,  in 
changing  sides,  had  advanced  the  boy's  knowl 
edge.  He  knew  now  the  difference  between  the 
embraces  of  his  lady  when  she  had  merely  wanted 
his  phosphates,  and  these  other  caresses  now  that 
she  wanted  him.  In  his  ceaseless  search  for  some 


304  LADY   BALTIMORE 

possible  loophole  of  escape,  his  eye  could  not 
have  overlooked  the  chance  that  lay  in  Charley, 
and  he  was  far  too  canny  to  blast  his  forlorn  hope. 
He  had  probably  wondered  what  had  changed  the 
nature  of  Hortense's  caresses,  and  the  adventure 
of  the  torn  money  could  scarce  have  failed  to  sug 
gest  itself  to  the  mind  of  a  youth  who,  little  as  he 
had  trodden  the  ways  of  the  world,  evidently 
possessed  some  lively  instincts  regarding  the 
nature  of  women.  To  batter  Charley  as  he  had 
battered  Juno's  nephew,  might  result  in  winding 
the  arms  of  Hortense  around  his  own  neck  more 
tightly  than  ever. 

Why  Hortense  should  keep  Charley  "  on  "  any 
longer,  was  what  I  could  least  fathom,  but  I 
trusted  her  to  have  excellent  reasons  for  anything 
that  she  did.  "  It's  sure  to  be  quite  simple,  once 
you  know  it,"  I  told  myself ;  and  the  near  future 
proved  me  to  be  right. 

Thus  I  laid  most  of  my  enigmas  to  rest ;  there 
was  but  one  which  now  and  then  awakened  still. 
Were  Hortense  a  raw  girl  of  eighteen,  I  could 
easily  grant  that  the  "  fire-eater "  in  John  would 
be  sure  to  move  her.  But  Hortense  had  travelled 
many  miles  away  from  the  green  forests  of 
romance ;  her  present  fields  were  carpeted,  not 
with  grass  and  flowers,  but  with  Oriental  mats 
and  rugs,  and  it  was  electric  lights,  not  the  moon 
and  stars,  that  shone  upon  her  highly  seasoned 
nights.  No,  torn  money  and  all,  it  was  not 
appropriate  in  a  woman  of  her  experience ;  and 
so  I  still  found  myself  inquiring  in  the  words  of 
Beverly  Rodgers,  "  But  what  can  she  want  him 
for?" 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS  305 

The  next  time  that  I  met  Mrs.  Gregory  St. 
Michael  it  was  on  my  way  to  join  the  party  at  the 
old  church,  which  Mrs.  Weguelin  was  going  to 
show  them.  The  card-case  was  in  her  hand,  and 
the  sight  of  it  prompted  me  to  allude  to  Hortense 
Rieppe. 

"  I  find  her  beauty  growing  upon  me,"  I  de 
clared. 

Mrs.  Gregory  did  not  deny  the  beauty,  although 
she  spoke  with  reserve  at  first.  "  It  is  to  be  said 
that  she  knows  how  to  write  a  suitable  note,"  the 
lady  also  admitted. 

She  didn't  tell  me  what  the  note  was  about, 
naturally ;  but  I  could  imagine  with  what  joy  in 
the  exercise  of  her  art  Hortense  had  constructed 
that  communication  which  must  have  accompa^ 
nied  the  prompt  return  of  the  card-case. 

Then  Mrs.  Gregory's  tongue  became  downright. 
"  Since  you're  able  to  see  so  much  of  her,  why 
don't  you  tell  her  to  marry  that  little  steam-yacht 
gambler?  I'm  sure  he's  dying  to,  and  he's  just 
the  thing  for  her  ?  " 

"  Ah,"  I  returned,  "  Love  so  seldom  knows 
what's  just  the  thing  for  marriage." 

"  Then  your  precocity  theory  falls,"  declared 
Mrs.  St.  Michael.  And  as  she  went  away  from 
me  along  the  street,  I  watched  her  beautiful  stately 
walk;  for  who  could  help  watching  a  sight  so  good? 

Charley,  then,  was  no  secret  to  John's  people. 
Was  John  still  a  secret  to  Charley?  Could  Hor 
tense  possibly  have  managed  this  ?  I  hoped  for 
a  chance  to  observe  the  two  men  with  her  during 
the  visit  of  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael  and  her 
party  to  the  church. 


306  LADY   BALTIMORE 

This  party  was  already  assembled  when  I  ar 
rived  upon  the  spot  appointed.  In  the  street, 
a  few  paces  from  the  church,  stood  Bohm  and 
Charley  and  Kitty  and  Gazza,  with  Beverly  Rod- 
gers,  who,  as  I  came  near,  left  them  and  joined 
me. 

"  Oh,  she's  somewhere  off  with  her  fire-eater," 
responded  Beverly  to  my  immediate  inquiry  for 
Hortense.  "  Do  you  think  she  was  asked,  old 
man?" 

Probably  not,  I  thought.  "  But  she  goes  so 
well  with  the  rest,"  I  suggested. 

Beverly  gave  his  chuckle.  "  She  goes  where  she 
likes.  She'll  meet  us  here  when  we're  finished,  I'm 
pretty  sure." 

"  Why  such  certainty  ?  " 

"  Well,  she  has  to  attend  to  Charley,  you  know !  " 

Mrs.  Weguelin,  it  appeared,  had  met  the  party 
here  by  the  church,  but  had  now  gone  somewhere 
in  the  immediate  neighborhood  to  find  out  why 
the  gate  was  not  opened  to  admit  us,  and  to  hasten 
the  unpunctual  custodian  of  the  keys.  I  had  not 
looked  for  precisely  such  a  party  as  Mrs.  Wegue- 
lin's  invitation  had  gathered,  nor  could  I  imagine 
that  she  had  fully  understood  herself  what  she 
was  gathering;  and  this  I  intimated  to  Beverly 
Rodgers,  saying :  — 

"  Do  you  suppose,  my  friend,  that  she  suspected 
the  feather  of  the  birds  you  flock  with  ?  " 

Beverly  took  it  lightly.  "  Hang  it,  old  boy,  of 
course  everybody  can't  be  as  nice  as  I  am  !  "  But 
he  took  it  less  lightly  before  it  was  over. 

We  stood  chatting  apart,  he  and  I,  while  Bohm 
and  Charley  and  Kitty  and  Gazza  walked  across 


AGAIN   THE    REPLACERS  307 

the  street  to  the  window  of  a  shop,  where  old  fur 
niture  was  for  sale  at  a  high  price ;  and  it  grew 
clearer  to  me  what  Beverly  had  innocently  brought 
upon  Mrs.  Weguelin,  and  how  he  had  brought  it. 
The  little  quiet,  particular  lady  had  been  pleased 
with  his  visit,  and  pleased  with  him.  His  good 
manners,  his  good  appearance,  his  good  English- 
trained  voice,  all  these  things  must  have  been  ex 
tremely  to  her  taste ;  and  then  —  more  important 
than  they — did  she  not  know  about  his  people? 
She  had  inquired,  he  told  me,  with  interest  about 
two  of  his  uncles,  whom  she  had  last  seen  in 
1858.  "  She's  awfully  the  right  sort,"  said  Beverly. 
Yes,  I  saw  well  how  that  visit  must  have  gone : 
the  gentle  old  lady  reviving  in  Beverly's  presence, 
and  for  the  sake  of  being  civil  to  him,  some  memo 
ries  of  her  girlhood,  some  meetings  with  those 
uncles,  some  dances  with  them ;  and  generally 
shedding  from  her  talk  and  manner  the  charm  of 
some  sweet  old  melody  —  and  Beverly,  the  facile, 
the  appreciative,  sitting  there  with  her  at  a  cor 
rect,  deferential  angle  on  his  chair,  admirably 
sympathetic  and  in  good  form,  and  playing  the 
old  school.  (He  had  no  thought  to  deceive  her; 
the  old  school  was  his  by  right,  and  genuinely  in 
his  blood,  he  took  to  it  like  a  duck  to  the  water.) 
How  should  Mrs.  Weguelin  divine  that  he  also 
took  to  the  nouveau  jeu  to  the  tune  of  Bohm  and 
Charley  and  Kitty  and  Gazza?  And  so,  to  show 
him  some  attention,  and  because  she  couldn't  ask 
him  to  a  meal,  why,  she  would  take  him  over  the 
old  church,  her  colonial  forefathers' ;  she  would 
tell  him  the  little  legends  about  them ;  he  was 
precisely  the  young  man  to  appreciate  such  things 


3o8  LADY   BALTIMORE 

—  and  she  would  be  pleased  if  he  would  also  bring 
the  friends  with  whom  he  was  travelling. 

I  looked  across  the  street  at  Bohm  and  Charley 
and  Kitty  and  Gazza.  They  were  now  staring 
about  them  in  all  their  perfection  of  stare :  small 
Charley  in  a  sleek  slate-colored  suit,  as  neat  as 
any  little  barber;  Bohm,  massive,  portentous,  his 
strong  shoes  and  gloves  the  chief  note  in  his 
dress,  and  about  his  whole  firm  frame  a  heavy 
mechanical  strength,  a  look  as  of  something  that 
did  something  rapidly  and  accurately  when  set 
going  —  cut  or  cracked  or  ground  or  smashed 
something  better  and  faster  than  it  had  ever  been 
cut  or  cracked  or  ground  or  smashed  before,  and 
would  take  your  arms  and  legs  off  if  you  didn't 
stand  well  back  from  it ;  it  was  only  in  Bohm's 
eye  and  lips  that  you  saw  he  wasn't  made  entirely 
of  brass  and  iron,  that  champagne  and  shoulders 
decolletes  received  a  punctual  share  of  his  valu 
able  time.  And  there  was  Kitty,  too,  just  the 
wife  for  Bohm,  so  soon  as  she  could  divorce  her 
husband,  to  whom  she  had  united  herself  before 
discovering  that  all  she  married  him  for,  his  old 
Knickerbocker  name,  was  no  longer  in  the  slight 
est  degree  necessary  for  social  acceptance;  while 
she  could  feed  people,  her  trough  would  be  well 
thronged.  Kitty  was  neat,  Kitty  was  trig,  Kitty 
was  what  Beverly  would  call  "  swagger  "  ;  her  skil 
ful  tailor-made  clothes  sheathed  her  closely  and 
gave  her  the  excellent  appearance  of  a  well-folded 
English  umbrella ;  it  was  in  her  hat  that  she  had 
gone  wrong  — a  beautiful  hat  in  itself,  one  which 
would  have  wholly  become  Hortense ;  but  for  poor 
Kitty  it  didn't  do  at  all.  Yes,  she  was  a  well- 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS  309 

folded  English  umbrella,  only  the  umbrella  had 
for  its  handle  the  head  of  a  bulldog  or  the  leg  of 
a  ballet-dancer.  And  these  were  the  Replacers, 
whom  Beverly's  clear-sighted  eyes  saw  swarming 
round  the  temple  of  his  civilization,  pushing  down 
the  aisles,  climbing  over  the  backs  of  the  benches, 
walking  over  each  other's  bodies,  and  seizing  those 
front  seats  which  his  family  had  sat  in  since  New 
York  had  been  New  York ;  and  so  the  wise  fellow 
very  prudently  took  every  step  that  would  insure 
the  Replacers'  inviting  him  to  occupy  one  of  his 
own  chairs.  I  had  almost  forgotten  little  Gazza, 
the  Italian  nobleman,  who  sold  old  furniture  to 
new  Americans.  Gazza  was  not  looking  at  the 
old  furniture  of  Kings  Port,  which  must  have 
filled  his  Vatican  soul  with  contempt;  he  was 
strolling  back  and  forth  in  the  street,  with  his 
head  in  the  air,  humming,  now  loudly,  now  softly, 
"  La-la,  la-la,  E  quando  a  la  predica  in  chiesa 
siederai,  la-la-la-la ; "  and  I  thought  to  myself 
that,  were  I  the  Pope,  I  should  kick  him  into 
the  Tiber. 

When  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael  came  back 
with  the  keys  and  their  custodian,  Bohm  was  lis 
tening  to  the  slow,  clear  words  of  Charley,  in  which 
he  evidently  found  something  that  at  length 
interested  him  —  a  little.  Bohm,  it  seemed,  did 
not  often  speak  himself:  possibly  once  a  week. 
His  way  was  to  let  other  people  speak  to  him; 
when  there  were  signs  in  his  face  that  he  was 
hearing  anything  which  they  said,  it  was  a  high 
compliment  to  them,  and  of  course  Charley  could 
command  Bohm's  ear ;  for  Charley,  although  he 
was  as  neat  as  any  barber,  and  let  Hortense  walk 


3io  LADY   BALTIMORE 

on  him  because  he  looked  beyond  that,  and  pur 
posed  to  get  her,  was  just  as  potent  in  the  finan 
cial  world  as  Bohm,  could  bring  a  borrowing 
empire  to  his  own  terms  just  as  skilfully  as  could 
Bohm ;  was,  in  short,  a  man  after  Bohm's  own  — 
I  had  almost  said  heart :  the  expression  is  so  ob 
stinately  embedded  in  our  language  !  Bohm,  lis 
tening,  and  Charley,  talking,  had  neither  of  them 
noticed  Mrs.  Weguelin's  arrival ;  they  stood  ignor 
ing  her,  while  she  waited,  casting  a  timid  eye  upon 
them.  But  Beverly,  suddenly  perceiving  this,  and 
begging  her  pardon  for  them,  brought  the  party 
together,  and  we  moved  in  among  the  old  graves. 

"  Ah  !  "  said  Gazza,  bending  to  read  the  quaint 
words  cut  upon  one  of  them,  as  we  stopped  while 
the  door  at  the  rear  of  the  church  was  being 
opened,  "  French  !  " 

"  It  was  the  mother-tongue  of  these  colonists," 
Mrs.  Weguelin  explained  to  him. 

"  Ah  !  like  Canada !  "  cried  Gazza.  "  But  what 
a  pretty  bit  is  that !  "  And  he  stood  back  to 
admire  a  little  glimpse,  across  a  street,  between 
tiled  roofs  and  rusty  balconies,  of  another  church 
steeple.  "  Almost,  one  would  say,  the  Old 
World,"  Gazza  declared. 

"  Our  world  is  not  new,"  said  Mrs.  Weguelin  ; 
and  she  passed  into  the  church. 

Kings  Port  holds  many  sacred  nooks,  many  cor 
ners,  many  vistas,  that  should  deeply  stir  the 
spirit  and  the  heart  of  all  Americans  who  know 
and  love  their  country.  The  passing  traveller 
may  gaze  up  at  certain  windows  there,  and  see 
History  herself  looking  out  at  him,  even  as  she 
looks  out  of  the  windows  of  Independence  Hall  in 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS 

-  -^  \- 


"Almost,  one  would  say,  the  Old  World" 

Philadelphia.     There  are  also  other  ancient  build 
ings  in  Kings  Port,  where  History  is  shut  up,  as  in 


312  LADY   BALTIMORE 

a  strong-box,  —  such  as  that  stubborn  old  octagon, 
the  powder-magazine  of  Revolutionary  times,  which 
is  a  chest  holding  proud  memories  of  blood  and 
war.  And  then  there  are  the  three  churches.  Not 
strong-boxes,  these,  but  shrines,  where  burn  the  ven 
erable  lamps  of  faith.  And  of  these  three  houses 
of  God,  that  one  holds  the  most  precious  flame, 
the  purest  light,  which  treasures  the  holy  fire  that 
came  from  France.  The  English  colonists,  who 
sat  in  the  other  two  congregations,  came  to  Caro 
lina's  soil  to  better  their  estate ;  but  it  was  for  lib 
erty  of  soul,  to  lift  their  ardent  and  exalted  prayer 
to  God  as  their  own  conscience  bade  them,  and  not 
as  any  man  dictated,  that  those  French  colonists 
sought  the  New  World.  No  Puritan  splendor  of 
independence  and  indomitable  courage  outshines 
theirs.  They  preached  a  word  as  burning  as  any 
that  Plymouth  or  Salem  ever  heard.  They  were 
but  a  handful,  yet  so  fecund  was  their  marvellous 
zeal  that  they  became  the  spiritual  leaven  of  their 
whole  community.  They  are  less  known  than 
Plymouth  and  Salem,  because  men  of  action, 
rather  than  men  of  letters,  have  sprung  from  the 
loins  of  the  South  ;  but  there  they  stand,  a  beau 
tiful  beacon,  shining  upon  the  coasts  of  our  early 
history.  Into  their  church,  then,  into  the  shrine 
where  their  small  lamp  still  burns,  their  devout 
descendant,  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael  led  our 
party,  because  in  her  eyes  Kings  Port  could  show 
nothing  more  precious  and  significant.  There 
had  been  nothing  to  warn  her  that  Bohm  and 
Charley  were  Americans  who  neither  knew  nor 
loved  their  country,  but  merely  Americans  who 
knew  their  country's  wealth  and  loved  to  acquire 
every  penny  of  it  that  they  could. 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS  313 

And  so,  following  the  steps  of  our  delicate  and 
courteous  guide,  we  entered  into  the  dimness  of 
the  little  building;  and  Mrs.  Weguelin's  voice, 
lowered  to  suit  the  sanctity  which  the  place  had  for 
her,  began  to  tell  us  very  quietly  and  clearly  the 
story  of  its  early  days. 

I  knew  it,  or  something  of  it,  from  books ;  but 
from  this  little  lady's  lips  it  took  on  a  charm 
and  graciousness  which  made  it  fresh  to  me.  I 
listened  attentively,  until  I  felt,  without  at  first 
seeing  the  cause,  that  dulling  of  enjoyment,  that 
interference  with  the  receptive  attention,  which 
comes  at  times  to  one  during  the  performance  of 
music  when  untimely  people  come  in  or  go  out. 
Next,  I  knew  that  our  group  of  listeners  was  less 
compact;  and  then,  as  we  moved  from  the  first 
point  in  the  church  to  a  new  one,  I  saw  that 
Bohm  and  Charley  were  dropping  behind,  and  I 
lingered,  with  the  intention  of  bringing  them 
closer. 

"  But  there  was  nothing  in  it,"  I  heard  Charley's 
slow  monologue  continuing  behind  me  to  the 
silent  Bohm.  "  We  could  have  bought  the 
Parsons  road  at  that  time.  '  Gentlemen,'  I  said  to 
them,  *  what  is  there  for  us  in  tide-water  at  Kings 
Port  ? ' 

It  was  not  to  be  done,  and  I  rejoined  Mrs. 
Weguelin  and  those  of  the  party  who  were  making 
some  show  of  attention  to  her  quiet  little  histories 
and  explanations  ;  and  Kitty's  was  the  next  voice 
which  I  heard  ring  out :  — 

"  Oh,  you  must  never  let  it  fall  to  pieces  !  It's 
the  cunningest  little  fossil  I've  seen  in  the  South." 

"  So,"  said  Charley   behind    me,    "  we   let  the 


3U  LADY   BALTIMORE 

other  crowd  buy  their  strategic  point ;  and  I  guess 
they  know  they  got  a  gold  brick." 

I  moved  away  from  the  financiers,  I  endeavored 
not  to  hear  their  words ;  and  in  this  much  I  was 
successful ;  but  their  inappropriate  presence  had 
got,  I  suppose  upon  my  nerves ;  at  any  rate,  go 
where  I  would  in  the  little  church,  or  attend  as  I 
might  and  did  to  what  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael 
said  about  the  tablets,  and  whatever  traditions 
their  inscriptions  suggested  to  her,  that  quiet,  low, 
persistent  banker's  voice  of  Charley's  pervaded  the 
building  like  a  draft  of  cold  air.  Once,  indeed,  he 
addressed  Mrs.  Weguelin  a  question.  She  was 
telling  Beverly  (who  followed  her  throughout, 
protectingly  and  charmingly,  with  his  most 
devoted  attention  and  his  best  manner)  the  hon 
orable  deeds  of  certain  older  generations  of  a 
family  belonging  to  this  congregation,  some  of 
whose  tombs  outside  had  borne  French  inscrip 
tions. 

"  My  mother's  family,"  said  Mrs.  Weguelin. 

"  And  nowadays,"  inquired  Beverly,  "  what  do 
they  find  instead  of  military  careers  ?  " 

"  There  are  no  more  of  us  nowadays ;  they  — 
they  were  killed  in  the  war."  And  immediately 
she  smiled,  and  with  her  hand  she  made  a  light 
gesture,  as  if  to  dismiss  this  subject  from  mutual 
embarrassment  and  pain. 

"  I  might  have  known  better,"  murmured  the 
understanding  Beverly. 

But  Charley  now  had  his  question.  "  How 
many,  did  you  say  ?  " 

"How  many?"  Mrs.  Weguelin  did  not  quite 
understand  him. 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS  315 

"  Were  killed  ?  "  explained  Charley. 

Again  there  was  a  little  pause  before  Mrs. 
Weguelin  answered,  "  My  four  brothers  met  their 
deaths." 

Charley  was  interested.  "And  what  was  the 
percentage  of  fatality  in  their  regiments  ?  " 

"  Oh,"  said  Mrs.  Weguelin,  "  we  did  not  think 
of  it  in  that  way."  And  she  turned  aside. 

"  Charley,"  said  Kitty,  with  some  precipitancy, 
"  do  make  Mr.  Bohm  look  at  the  church !  "  and  she 

turned    after     Mrs.    Weguelin.      "  It   is   such    a 

/  " 
gem  ! 

But  I  saw  the  little  lady  try  to  speak  and  fail,  and 
then  I  noticed  that  she  was  leaning  against  a 
window-sill. 

Beverly  Rodgers  also  noticed  this,  and  he 
hastened  to  her. 

"  Thank  you,"  she  returned  to  his  hasty  ques 
tion,  "  I  am  quite  well.  If  you  are  not  tired  of  it, 
shall  we  go  on  ?  " 

"It  is  sucha/ww/"  repeated  Kitty,  throwing 
an  angry  glance  at  Charley  and  Bohm.  And  so 
we  went  on. 

Yes,  Kitty  did  her  best  to  cover  it  up ;  Kitty, 
as  she  would  undoubtedly  have  said  herself,  could 
see  a  few  things.  But  nobody  could  cover  it  up, 
though  Beverly  was  now  vigilant  in  his  efforts  to 
do  so.  Indeed,  Replacers  cannot  be  covered  up 
by  human  agency;  they  bulge,  they  loom,  they 
stare,  they  dominate  the  road  of  life,  even  as  their 
automobiles  drive  horses  and  pedestrians  to  the 
wall.  Bohm,  roused  from  his  financial  torpor  by 
Kitty's  sharp  command,  did  actually  turn  his  eyes 
upon  the  church,  which  he  had  now  been  inside 


3i6  LADY   BALTIMORE 

for  some  twenty  minutes  without  noticing.  In 
stinct  and  long  training  had  given  his  eye,  when 
it  really  looked  at  anything,  a  particular  glance — 
the  glance  of  the  Replacer  —  which  plainly  calcu 
lated:  "  Can  this  be  made  worth  money  to  me?" 
and  which  died  instantly  to  a  glaze  of  indifference 
on  seeing  that  no  money  could  be  made.  Bohm's 
eye,  accordingly,  waked  and  then  glazed.  Man 
ners,  courtesy,  he  did  not  need,  not  yet;  he  had 
looked  at  them  with  his  Replacer  glance,  and,  see 
ing  no  money  in  them,  had  gone  on  looking  at 
railroads,  and  mines,  and  mills,  —  and  bare  shoul 
ders,  and  bottles.  Should  manners  and  courtesy 
come,  some  day,  to  mean  money  to  him,  then  he 
could  have  them,  in  his  fashion,  so  that  his  admir 
ers  and  his  apologists  should  alike  declare  of  him, 
"  A  rough  diamond,  but  consider  what  he  has 
made  of  himself  !  " 

"  After  what,  did  you  say  ? "  This  was  the 
voice  of  Gazza,  addressing  Mrs.  Weguelin  St. 
Michael.  It  must  be  said  of  Gazza  that  he,  too, 
made  a  certain  pretence  of  interest  in  the  tradi 
tions  of  Kings  Port. 

"  After  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes," 
replied  Mrs.  Weguelin. 

"  Built  it  in  Savannah,"  Charley  was  saying  to 
Bohm,  "or  Norfolk.  This  is  a  good  place  to  bury 
people  in,  but  not  money.  Now  the  phosphate 
proposition  —  " 

Again  I  dragged  my  attention  by  force  away 
from  that  quiet,  relentless  monologue,  and  listened 
as  well  as  I  could  to  Mrs.  Weguelin.  There  had 
come  to  be  among  us  all,  I  think  —  Beverly,  Kitty, 
Gazza,  and  myself  —  a  joint  impulse  to  shield  her, 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS  317 

to  cluster  about  her,  to  follow  her  steps  from  each 
little  lecture  that  she  finished  to  the  new  point 
where  the  next  lecture  began  ;  and  we  did  it,  per 
formed  our  pilgrimage  to  the  end ;  but  there  was 
less  and  less  nature  in  our  performance.  I  knew 
(and  it  was  like  a  dream  which  I  could  not  stop) 
that  we  pressed  a  little  too  close,  that  our  ques 
tions  were  a  little  too  eager,  that  we  overpainted 
our  faces  with  attention;  knowing  this  did  not 
help,  nothing  helped,  and  we  went  on  to  the  end, 
seeing  ourselves  doing  it ;  and  it  must  have  been 
that  Mrs.  Weguelin  saw  us  likewise.  But  she  was 
truly  admirable  in  giving  no  sign,  she  came  out 
well  ahead ;  the  lectures  were  not  hurried,  one 
had  no  sense  of  points  being  skipped  to  accom 
modate  our  unworthiness,  it  required  a  previous 
familiarity  with  the  church  to  know  (as  I  did)  that 
there  was,  indeed,  more  and  more  skipping ;  yet 
the  little  lady  played  her-part  so  evenly  and  with 
never  a  falter  of  voice  nor  a  change  in  the  gentle 
courtesy  of  her  manner,  that  I  do  not  think  — 
save  for  that  moment  at  the  window-sill — I  could 
have  been  sure  what  she  thought,  or  how  much 
she  noticed.  Her  face  was  always  so  pale,  it  may 
well  have  been  all  imagination  with  me  that  she 
seemed,  when  we  emerged  at  last  into  the  light  of 
the  street,  paler  than  usual ;  but  I  am  almost  cer 
tain  that  her  hand  was  trembling  as  she  stood 
receiving  the  thanks  of  the  party.  These  thanks 
were  cut  a  little  short  by  the  arrival  of  one  of  the 
automobiles,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  appear 
ance  of  Hortense  strolling  toward  us  with  John 
Mayrant. 

Charley  had    resumed    to   Bohm,    UA     tax   of 


3i8  LADY   BALTIMORE 

twenty-five  cents  on  the  ton  is  nothing  with  de 
posits  of  this  richness,"  when  his  voice  ceased ; 
and  looking  at  him  to  see  the  cause,  I  perceived 
that  his  eye  was  on  John,  and  that  his  polished 
finger-nail  was  running  meditatively  along  his 
thin  mustache. 

Hortense  took  the  matter  —  whatever  the  mat 
ter  was  —  in  hand. 

"  You  haven't  much  time,"  she  said  to  Charley, 
who  consulted  his  watch. 

"  Who's  coming  to  see  me  off  ?  "  he  inquired. 

"  Where's  he  going  ?  "  I  asked  Beverly. 

"  She's  sending  him  North,"  Beverly  answered, 
and  then  he  spoke  with  his  very  best  simple  man 
ner  to  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael.  "  May  I  not 
walk  home  with  you  after  all  your  kindness  ?  " 

She  was  going  to  say  no,  for  she  had  had 
enough  of  this  party ;  but  she  looked  at  Beverly, 
and  his  face  and  his  true  solicitude  won  her ;  she 
said,  "  Thank  you,  if  you  will."  And  the  two  de 
parted  together  down  the  shabby  street,  the  little 
veiled  lady  in  black,  and  Beverly  with  his  excel 
lent  London  clothes  and  his  still  more  excellent 
look  of  respectful,  sheltering  attention. 

And  now  Bohm  pronounced  the  only  utterance 
that  I  heard  fall  from  his  lips  during  his  stay  in 
Kings  Port.  He  looked  at  the  church  he  had 
come  from,  he  looked  at  the  neighboring  larger 
church  whose  columns  stood  out  at  the  angle  of 
the  street;  he  looked  at  the  graveyard  opposite 
that,  then  at  the  stale,  dusty  shop  of  old  furniture, 
and  then  up  the  shabby  street,  where  no  life  or 
movement  was  to  be  seen,  except  the  distant  forms 
of  Beverly  and  Mrs.  Weguelin  St.  Michael.  Then 


AGAIN   THE   REPLACERS  319 

from  a  gold  cigar-case,  curved  to  fit  his  breast 
pocket,  he  took  a  cigar  and  lighted  it  from  a  gold 
match-box.  Offering  none  of  us  a  cigar,  he 
placed  the  case  again  in  his  pocket ;  and  holding 
his  lighted  cigar  a  moment  with  two  fingers  in 
his  strong  glove,  he  spoke  :  — 

"  This  town's  worse  than  Sunday." 

Then  he  got  into  the  automobile.  They  all 
followed  to  see  Charley  off,  and  he  addressed 
me. 

"  I  shall  be  glad,"  he  said,  "  if  you  will  make 
one  of  a  little  party  on  the  yacht  next  Sunday, 
when  I  come  back.  And  you  also,"  he  added  to 
John. 

Both  John  and  I  expressed  our  acceptance  in 
suitable  forms,  and  the  automobile  took  its  way 
to  the  train. 

"  Your  Kings  Port  streets,"  I  said,  as  we  walked 
back  toward  Mrs.  Trevise's,  "  are  not  very  favor 
able  for  automobiles." 

"  No,"  he  returned  briefly.  I  don't  remember 
that  either  of  us  found  more  to  say  until  we  had 
reached  my  front  door,  when  he  asked,  "  Will  the 
day  after  to-morrow  suit  you  for  Udolpho  ?  " 

"  Whenever  you  say,"  I  told  him. 

"  Weather  permitting,  of  course.  But  I  hope 
that  it  will ;  for  after  that  I  suppose  my  time  will 
not  be  quite  so  free." 

After  we  had  parted  it  struck  me  that  this  was 
the  first  reference  to  his  approaching  marriage 
that  John  had  ever  made  in  my  hearing  since  that 
day  long  ago  (it  seemed  long  ago,  at  least)  when 
he  had  come  to  the  Exchange  to  order  the  wed 
ding-cake,  and  Eliza  La  Heu  had  fallen  in  love 


320  LADY   BALTIMORE 

with  him  at  sight.  That,  in  my  opinion,  looking 
back  now  with  eyes  at  any  rate  partially  opened, 
was  what  ^  Eliza  had  done.  Had  John  returned 
the  compliment  then,  or  since  ? 


XIX 

UDOLPHO 

TT  was  to  me  continuously  a  matter  of  satisfac- 
tion  and  of  interest  to  see  Hortense  disturbed 
—  whether  for  causes  real  or  imaginary  —  about 
the  security  of  her  title  to  her  lover  John,  nor  can 
I  say  that  my  misinterpreted  bunch  of  roses  dimin 
ished  this  satisfaction.  I  should  have  been  glad 
to  know  if  the  accomplished  young  woman  had 
further  probed  that  question  and  discovered  the 
truth,  but  it  seemed  scarce  likely  that  she  could 
do  this  without  the  help  of  one  of  three  persons, 
Eliza  and  myself  who  knew  all,  or  John  who  knew 
nothing;  for  the  up-country  bride,  and  whatever 
other  people  in  Kings  Port  there  were  to  whom 
the  bride  might  gayly  recite  the  tale  of  my  roses, 
were  none  of  them  likely  to  encounter  Miss 
Rieppe ;  their  paths  and  hers  would  not  meet 
until  they  met  in  church  at  the  wedding  of  Hor 
tense  and  John.  No,  she  could  not  have  found 
out  the  truth ;  for  never  in  the  world  would  she, 
at  this  eleventh  hour,  risk  a  conversation  with 
John  upon  a  subject  so  full  of  well-packed  explo 
sives  ;  and  so  she  must  be  simply  keeping  on  both 
him  and  Eliza  an  eye  as  watchful  as  lay  in  her 
power.  As  for  Charley,  what  bait,  what  persua 
sion,  what  duress  she  had  been  able  to  find  that 

Y  321 


322  LADY   BALTIMORE 

took  him  at  an  hour  so  critical  from  her  side  to 
New  York,  I  could  not  in  the  least  conjecture. 
Had  she  said  to  the  little  banker,  Go,  because  I 
must  think  it  over  alone  ?  It  did  not  seem  strong 
enough.  Or  had  she  said,  Go,  and  on  your  return 
you  shall  have  my  answer  ?  Not  adequate  either, 
I  thought.  Or  had  it  been,  If  you  don't  go,  it  shall 
be  "  no,"  to-day  and  forever  ?  This  last  was  better ; 
but  there  was  no  telling,  nor  did  Beverly  Rodgers, 
to  whom  I  propounded  all  my  theories,  have  any 
notion  of  what  was  between  Hortense  and  Charley. 
He  only  knew  that  Charley  was  quite  aware  of 
the  existence  of  John,  but  had  always  been  merely 
amused  at  the  notion  of  him. 

"  So  have  you  been  merely  amused,"  I  reminded 
him. 

"  Not  since  that  look  I  saw  her  give  him,  old  chap. 
I  know  she  wants  him,  only  not  why  she  wants 
him.  And  Charley,  you  know — well,  of  course, 
poor  Charley's  a  banker,  just  a  banker  and  no  more  ; 
and  a  banker  is  merely  the  ace  in  the  same  pack 
where  the  drummer  is  the  two-spot.  Our  American 
civilization  should  be  called  Drummer's  Delight  — 
and  there's  nothing  in  your  fire-eater  to  delight 
a  drummer :  he's  a  gentleman,  he'll  be  only  so-so 
rich,  and  he's  away  back  out  of  the  lime-light,  while 
poor  old  Charley's  a  bounder,  and  worth  forty 
millions  anyhow,  and  right  in  the  centre  of  the 
glare.  How  should  he  see  any  danger  in  John  ?  " 

"  I  wonder  if  he  hasn't  begun  to  ?  " 

"  Well,  perhaps.  He  and  Hortense  have  been 
'talking  business';  I  know  that.  Oh  —  and  why 
do  you  think  she  said  he  must  go  to  New  York  ? 
To  make  a  better  deal  for  the  fire-eater's  phos- 


UDOLPHO 


323 


phates  than  his  fuddling  old  trustee  here  was  go 
ing  to  close  with.  Charley  said  that  could  be 
arranged  by  telegram.  But  she  made  him  go 
himself!  She's  extraordinary.  He'll  arrive  in 
town  to-morrow,  he'll  leave  next  day,  he'll  reach 
here  by  the  Southern  on  Saturday  night  in  time 
for  our  Sunday  yacht  picnic,  and  then  something 
has  got  to  happen,  I  should  think." 

Here  was  another  key,  unlocking  a  further 
piece  of  knowledge  for  me.  I  had  not  been  able 
to  guess  why  Hortense  should  be  keeping  Charley 
"on";  but  how  natural  was  this  policy,  when 
understood  clearly!  She  still  needed  Charley's 
influence  in  the  world  of  affairs.  Charley's  final 
service  was  to  be  the  increasing  of  his  successful 
rival's  fortune.  I  wondered  what  Charley  would 
do,  when  the  full  extent  of  his  usefulness  dawned 
upon  him  ;  and  with  wonder  renewed  I  thought 
of  General  Rieppe,  and  this  daughter  he  had 
managed  to  beget.  Surely  the  mother  of  Hor 
tense,  whoever  she  may  have  been,  must  have 
been  a  very  richly  endowed  character ! 

"  Something  has  most  certainly  got  to  happen, 
and  soon,"  I  said  to  Beverly  Rodgers.  "  Especially 
if  my  busy  boarding-house  bodies  are  right  in 
saying  that  the  invitations  for  the  wedding  are  to 
be  out  on  Monday." 

Well,  I  had  Friday,  I  had  Udolpho;  and  there, 
while  on  that  excursion,  when  I  should  be  alone 
with  John  Mayrant  during  many  hours,  and  es 
pecially  the  hours  of  deep,  confidential  night,  I 
swore  to  myself  on  oath  I  would  say  to  the  boy 
the  last  word,  up  to  the  verge  of  offence,  that  my 
wits  could  devise.  Apart  from  a  certain  dra- 


324  LADY   BALTIMORE 

matic  excitement  as  of  battle  —  battle  between 
Hortense  and  me  —  I  truly  wished  to  help  him 
out  of  the  miserable  mistake  his  wrong  standard, 
his  chivalry  gone  perverted,  was  spurring  him  on 
to  make ;  and  I  had  a  comic  image  of  myself, 
summoning  Miss  Josephine,  summoning  Miss 
Eliza,  summoning  Mrs.  Gregory  and  Mrs.  Wegue- 
lin,  and  the  whole  company  of  aunts  and  cousins, 
and  handing  to  them  the  rescued  John  with  the 
single  but  sufficient  syllable :  "  There !  " 

He  was  in  apparent  spirits,  was  John,  at  that 
hour  of  our  departure  for  Udolpho  ;  he  pretended 
so  well  that  I  was  for  a  while  altogether  deceived. 
He  had  wished  to  call  for  me  with  the  conveyance 
in  which  he  should  drive  us  out  into  the  lonely 
country  through  the  sunny  afternoon;  but  instead, 
I  chose  to  walk  round  to  where  he  lived,  and  where 
I  found  him  stuffing  beneath  the  seats  of  the 
vehicle  the  baskets  and  the  parcels  which  con 
tained  the  provisions  for  our  ample  supper. 

"  I  have  never  seen  you  drink  hearty  yet,  and 
now  I  purpose  to,"  said  John. 

As  the  packing  was  finishing  Miss  Josephine 
St.  Michael  came  by ;  and  the  sight  of  the  erect 
old  lady  reminded  me  that  of  all  Kings  Port  fig 
ures  known  to  me  and  seen  in  the  garden  paying 
their  visit  of  ceremony  to  Hortense,  she  alone  — 
she  and  Eliza  La  Heu — had  been  absent.  Eliza's 
declining  to  share  in  that  was  well-nigh  inevitable, 
but  Miss  Josephine  was  another  matter.  Perhaps 
she  had  considered  her  sister's  going  there  to  be 
enough  ;  at  any  rate,  she  had  not  been  party  to 
the  surrender,  and  this  gave  me  whimsical  satis 
faction.  Moreover,  it  had  evidently  occasioned 


UDOLPHO  325 

no  ruffle  in  the  affectionate  relations  between  her 
self  and  John. 

"  John,"  said  she,  "  as  you  drive  by,  do  get  me 
a  plumber." 

"  Much  better  get  a  burglar,  Aunt  Josephine. 
Cheaper  in  the  end,  and  neater  work." 

It  was  thus,  at  the  outset,  that  I  came  to  be 
lieve  John's  spirits  were  high;  and  this  illusion 
he  successfully  kept  up  until  after  we  had  left  the 
plumber  and  Kings  Port  several  sordid  miles  be 
hind  us;  the  approach  to  Kings  Port  this  way 
lies  through  dirtiest  Africa.  John  was  loquacious ; 
John  discoursed  upon  the  Replacers ;  Mrs.  Wegue- 
lin  St.  Michael  had  quite  evidently  expressed  to 
her  own  circle  what  she  thought  of  them  ;  and  the 
town  in  consequence,  although  it  did  not  see  them 
or  their  automobiles,  because  it  appeared  they 
were  gone  some  twenty  miles  inland  upon  an 
excursion  to  a  resort  where  was  a  large  hotel,  and 
a  little  variety  in  the  way  of  some  tourists  of  the 
Replacer  stripe,  —  the  town  kept  them  well  in  its 
mind's  eye.  The  automobiles  would  have  sufficed 
to  bring  them  into  disrepute,  but  Kings  Port  had 
a  better  reason  in  their  conduct  in  the  church  ; 
and  John  found  many  things  to  say  to  me,  as  we 
drove  along,  about  Bohm  and  Charley  and  Kitty. 
Gazza  he  forgot,  although,  as  shall  appear  in  its 
place,  Gazza  was  likely  to  live  a  long  while  in  his 
memory.  Beverly  Rodgers  he,  of  course,  recog 
nized  as  being  a  gentleman  —  it  was  clear  that 
Beverly  met  with  Kings  Port's  approval  —  and, 
from  his  Newport  experiences,  John  was  able  to 
make  out  quite  as  well  as  if  he  had  heard  Beverly 
explain  it  himself  the  whole^  wise  philosophic 


326  LADY  BALTIMORE 

system  of  joining  with  the  Replacers  in  order  that 
you  be  not  replaced  yourself. 

"  In  his  shoes  mightn't  I  do  the  same  ?  "  he 
surmised.  "  I  fear  I'm  not  as  Spartan  as  my  aunts 

—  only  pray  don't  mention  it  to  them !  " 

And  then,  because  I  had  been  answering  him 
with  single  syllables,  or  with  nods,  or  not  at  all, 
he  taxed  me  with  my  taciturnity ;  he  even  went 
so  far  as  to  ask  me  what  thoughts  kept  me  so 
silent  —  which  I  did  not  tell  him. 

"  I  am  wondering,"  I  told  him  instead,  "  how 
much  they  steal  every  week." 

"  Those  financiers  ?  " 

"  Yes.  Bohm  is  president  of  an  insurance  com 
pany,  and  Charley's  a  director,  and  reorganizes 
railroads." 

"  Well,  if  other  people  share  your  pleasant  opin 
ion  of  them,  how  do  they  get  elected  ? " 

"Other  people  share  their  pleasant  spoils  — 
senators,  vestrymen  —  you  can't  be  sure  who 
you're  sitting  next  to  at  dinner  any  more.  Come 
live  North.  You'll  find  the  only  safe  way  is  never 
to  know  anybody  worth  more  than  five  millions 

—  if  you  wish  to  keep  the  criminal  classes  off  your 
visiting  list." 

This  made  him  merry.  "  Put  'em  in  jail, 
then  ! " 

"  Ah,  the  jail !  "  I  returned.'  "  It's  the  great 
American  joke.  It  reverses  the  rule  of  our  smart 
society.  Only  those  who  have  no  incomes  are 
admitted." 

"  But  what  do  you  have  laws  and  lawyers  for  ?  " 

"  To  keep  the  rich  out  of  jail.  It's  called  '  pro 
fessional  etiquette.' " 


UDOLPHO  327 

"  Your  picture  flatters !  " 

"  You  flatter  me ;  it's  only  a  photograph.  Come 
North  and  see." 

"  One  might  think,  from  your  account,  the 
American  had  rather  be  bad  than  good." 

"  O  dear,  no !  The  American  had  much  rather 
be  good  than  bad  !  " 

"  Your  admission  amazes  me  !  " 

"But  also  the  American  had  rather  be  rich 
than  good.  And  he  is  having  his  wish.  And 
money's  golden  hand  is  tightening  on  the  throat 
of  liberty  while  the  labor  union  stabs  liberty  in 
the  back  —  for  trusts  and  unions  are  both  trying 
to  kill  liberty.  And  the  soul  of 'Uncle  Sam  has 
turned  into  a  dollar  inside  his  great,  big,  strong, 
triumphant  flesh;  so  that  even  his  new  religion, 
his  own  special  invention,  his  last  offering  to  the 
creeds  of  the  world,  his  gatherer  of  converted 
hordes,  his  Christian  Science,  is  based  upon  physi 
cal  benefit." 

John  touched  the  horses.  "You're  particularly 
cheerful  to-day  !  " 

"  No.     I  merely  summarize  what  I'm  seeing." 

"  Well,  a  moral  awakening  will  come,"  he  de 
clared. 

"  Inevitably.  To-morrow,  perhaps.  The  flesh 
has  had  a  good,  long,  prosperous  day,  and  the 
hour  of  the  spirit  must  be  near  striking.  And 
the  moral  awakening  will  be  followed  by  a  moral 
slumber,  since,  in  the  uncomprehended  scheme  of 
1ftings,  slumber  seems  necessary  ;  and  you  needn't 
pull  so  long  a  face,  Mr.  Mayrant,  because  the 
slumber  will  be  followed  by  another  moral  awak 
ening.  The  alcoholic  society  girl  you  don't  like 


328  LADY   BALTIMORE 

will  very  probably  give  birth  to  a  water-drinking 
daughter  —  who  in  her  turn  may  produce  a  bibu 
lous  progeny :  how  often  must  I  tell  you  that 
nothing  is  final  ?  " 

John  Mayrant  gave  the  horses  a  somewhat 
vicious  lash  after  these  last  words  of  mine  ;  and, 
as  he  made  no  retort  to  them,  we  journeyed  some 
little  distance  in  silence  through  the  mild,  enchant 
ing  light  of  the  sun.  My  deliberate  allusion  to 
alcoholic  girls  had  made  plain  what  I  had  begun 
to  suspect.  I  could  now  discern  that  his  cloak  of 
gayety  had  fallen  from  him,  leaving  bare  the  same 
harassed  spirit,  the  same  restless  mood,  which  had 
been  his  upon  the  last  occasion  when  we  had 
talked  at  length  together  upon  some  of  the  pres 
ent  social  and  political  phases  of  our  republic  — 
that  day  of  the  New  Bridge  and  the  advent  of 
Hortense.  Only,  upon  that  day,  he  had  by  his 
manner  in  some  subtle  fashion  conveyed  to  me 
a  greater  security  in  my  discretion  than  I  felt 
him  now  to  entertain.  His  many  observations 
about  the  Replacers,  with  always  the  significant 
and  conspicuous  omission  of  Hortense,  proved 
more  and  more,  as  I  thought  it  over,  that  his  state 
was  unsteady.  Even  now,  he  did  not  long  endure 
silence  between  us;  yet  the  eagerness  which  he 
threw  into  our  discussions  did  not,  it  seemed  to 
me,  so  much  proceed  from  present  interest  in  their 
subjects  (though  interest  there  was  at  times)  as 
from  anxiety  lest  one  particular  subject,  ever  pres 
ent  with  him,  should  creep  in  unawares.  So  much 
I,  at  any  rate,  concluded,  and  bided  my  time  for 
the  creeping  in  unawares,  content  meanwhile  to 
parry  some  of  the  reproaches  which  he  now  and 


UDOLPHO  329 

again  cast  at  me  with  an  earnestness  real  or 
feigned. 

We  had  made  now  considerable  progress,  and 
were  come  to  a  space  of  sand  and  cabins  and  in 
tersecting  railroad  tracks,  where  freight  cars  and 
locomotives  stood,  and  negroes  of  all  shapes,  but 
of  one  lowering  and  ragged  appearance,  lounged 
and  stared. 

"  There  used  to  be  a  murder  here  about  once 
a  day,"  said  John,  "  before  the  dispensary  system. 
Now,  it  is  about  once  a  week." 

"  That  law  is  of  benefit,  then?"  I  inquired^ 

"  To  those  who  drink  the  whiskey,  possibly ; 
certainly  to  those  who  sell  it!"  And  he  con 
densed  for  me  the  long  story  of  the  state  dispen 
sary,  which  in  brief  appeared  to  be  that  South 
Carolina  had  gone  into  the  liquor  business.  The 
profits  were  to  pay  for  compulsory  education ;  the 
liquor  was  to  be  pure ;  society  and  sobriety  were 
to  be  advanced :  such  had  been  the  threefold 
promise,  of  which  the  threefold  fulfilment  was 
—  defeat  of  the  compulsory  education  bill,  a 
political  monopoly  enriching  favored  distillers, 
"and  lately,"  said  John,  "a  thoroughly  democratic 
whiskey  for  the  plain  people.  Pay  ten  cents  for 
a  bottle  of  X,  if  you're  curious.  It  may  not 
poison  you  —  but  the  murders  are  coming  up 
again." 

"  What  a  delightful  example  of  government 
ownership!"  I  exclaimed. 

But  John  in  Kings  Port  was  not  in  the  way  of 
hearing  that  cure-all  policy  discussed,  and  I  there 
fore  explained  it  to  him.  He1  did  not  seem  to  grasp 
my  explanation. 


330  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  I  don't  see  how  it  would  change  anything," 
he  remarked,  "  beyond  switching  the  stealing  from 
one  set  of  hands  to  another." 

I  put  on  a  face  of  concern.  "  What  ?  You 
don't  believe  in  our  patent  American  short-cuts?" 

"Short-cuts?" 

"  Certainly.  Short-cuts  to  universal  happiness, 
universal  honesty,  universal  everything.  For  in 
stance:  Don't  make  a  boy  study  four  years  for  a 
college  degree ;  just  cut  the  time  in  half,  and 
you've  got  a  short-cut  to  education.  Write  it 
down  that  man  is  equal.  That  settles  it.  You'll 
notice  how  equal  he  is  at  once.  Write  it  down 
that  the  negro  shall  vote.  You'll  observe  how 
instantly  he  is  fit  for  the  suffrage.  Now  they 
want  it  written  down  that  government  shall  take 
all  the  wicked  corporations,  because  then  corrup 
tion  will  disappear  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
You'll  find  the  farmers  presently  having  it  written 
down  that  all  hens  must  hatch  their  eggs  in  a 
week,  and  next,  a  league  of  earnest  women  will 
advocate  a  Constitutional  amendment  that  men 
only  shall  bring  forth  children.  Oh,  we  Ameri 
cans  are  very  thorough  !  "  And  I  laughed. 

But  John's  face  was  not  gay.  "  Well,"  he 
mused,  "  South  Carolina  took  a  short-cut  to  pure 
liquor  and  sober  citizens  —  and  reached  instead 
a  new  den  of  thieves.  Is  the  whole  country 

sick?; 

"  Sick  to  the  marrow,  my  friend ;  but  young 
and  vigorous  still.  A  nation  in  its  long  life  has 
many  illnesses  before  the  one  it  dies  of.  But  we 
shall  need  some  strong  medicine  if  we  do  not  get 
well  soon." 


UDOLPHO  331 

"  What  kind  ?  " 

"Ah,  that's  beyond  any  one!  And  we  have 
several  things  the  matter  with  us  —  as  bad  a  case, 
for  example,  of  complacency  as  I've  met  in  history. 
Complacency's  a  very  dangerous  disease,  seldom 
got  rid  of  without  the  purge  of  a  great  calamity. 
And  worse,  where  does  our  dishonesty  begin,  and 
where  end  ?  The  boy  goes  to  college,  and  there 
in  football  it  awaits  him ;  he  graduates,  and  in  the 
down-town  office  it  smirks  at  him  ;  he  rises  into 
the  confidence  of  his  superiors,  the  town's  chief 
citizens,  and  finds  their  gray  hairs  crowned  with 
it,  —  the  very  men  he  has  looked  up  to,  believed 
in,  his  ideals,  his  examples,  the  merchant  prince, 
the  railroad  magnate,  the  president  of  insurance 
companies  —  all  dirty  rascals  !  Presently  he  faces 
worldly  success  or  failure,  and  then,  in  the  new 
ocean  of  mind  that  has  swallowed  morals  up,  he 
sinks  with  his  isolated  honesty,  like  a  fool,  or 
swims  to  respectability  with  his  brother  knaves. 
And  into  this  mess  the  immigrant  sewage  of 
Europe  is  steadily  pouring.  Such  is  our  conti 
nent  to-day,  with  all  its  fair  winds  and  tides  and 
fields  favorable  to  us,  and  only  our  shallow,  com 
placent,  dishonest  selves  against  us!  But  don't  let 
.these  considerations  make  you  gloomy;  for  (I  must 
say  it  again)  nothing  is  final ;  and  even  if  we  rot 
before  we  ripen — -which  would  be  a  wholly  novel 
phenomenon  —  we  shall  have  made  our  contribu 
tion  to  mankind  in  demonstrating  by  our  collapse 
that  the  sow's  ear  belongs  with  the  rest  of  the 
animal,  and  not  in  the  voting  booth  or  the  legis 
lature,  and  that  the  doctrine  of  universal  suffrage 
should  have  waited  until  men  were  born  honest 


332  LADY   BALTIMORE 

and  equal.  That  in  itself  would  be  a  memorable 
service  to  have  rendered." 

We  had  come  into  the  divine,  sad  stillness  of 
the  woods,  where  the  warm  sunlight  shone 
through  the  gray  moss,  lighting  the  curtained 
solitudes  away  and  away  into  the  depths  of  the 
golden  afternoon ;  and  somewhere  amid  the  miles 
of  sleeping  wilderness  sounded  the  hoarse  honk 
of  the  automobile.  The  Replacers  were  abroad, 
enjoying  what  they  could  in  this  country  where 
they  did  not  belong,  and  which  did  not  as  yet 
belong  to  them.  Once  again  we  heard  their  honk 
off  to  our  left,  from  a  farther  distance,  and  I  am 
glad  to  say  that  we  did  not  see  them  at  all. 

"  If,"  said  John  Mayrant,  "  what  you  have  said 
is  true,  the  nation  had  better  get  on  its  knees  and 
pray  God  to  give  it  grace." 

I  looked  at  the  boy  and  saw  that  his  counte 
nance  had  grown  very  fine.  "  The  act,"  I  said, 
"  would  bring  grace,  wherever  it  comes  from." 

"  Yes,"  he  assented.  "  If  in  the  stars  and  awful- 
ness  of  space  there's  nothing,  that  does  not  trouble 
me ;  for  my  greater  self  is  inside  me,  safe.  And 
our  country  has  a  greater  self  somewhere. 
Think  ! " 

"  I  do  not  have  to  think,"  I  replied,  "  when  I 
know  the  nobleness  we  have  risen  to  at  times." 

"  And  I,"  he  pursued,  "  happen  to  believe  it  is 
not  all  only  stars  and  space ;  and  that  God,  as 
much  as  any  ship-builder,  rejoices  to  watch  every 
tiniest  boat  meet  and  brave  the  storm." 

Out  of  his  troubles  he  had  brought  such  mood, 
sweetness  instead  of  bitterness ;  he  was  saying  as 
plainly  as  if  his  actual  words  said  it,  "  Misfortune 


UDOLPHO  333 

has  come  to  me,  and  I  am  going  to  make  the  best 
of  it."  His  nobleness,  his  moral  elegance,  com 
pelled  him  to  this,  and  I  envied  him,  not  sure  if  I 
myself,  thus  placed,  would  acquit  myself  so  well. 
And  there  was  in  his  sweetness  a  contagion  that 
strangely  reconciled  me  to  the  troubled  aspects  of 
our  national  hour.  I  thought,  "  Invisible  among 
our  eighty  millions  there  is  a  quiet  legion  living 
untainted  in  the  depths,  while  the  yellow  rich,  the 
prismatic  scum  and  bubbles,  boil  on  the  surface." 
Yes,  he  had  accidentally  helped  me,  and  I  wished 
doubly  that  I  might  help  him.  It  was  well  enough 
he  should  feel  he  must  not  shirk  his  duty,  but  how 
much  better  if  he  could  be  led  to  see  that  marry 
ing  where  he  did  not  love  was  no  duty  of  his. 

I  knew  what  I  had  to  say  to  him,  but  lacked  the 
beginning  of  it ;  and  of  this  beginning  I  was  in 
search  as  we  drove  up  among  the  live-oaks  of 
Udolpho  to  the  little  club-house,  or  hunting  lodge, 
where  a  negro  and  his  wife  received  us,  and  took 
the  baskets  and  set  about  preparing  supper.  My 
beginning  sat  so  heavily  upon  my  attention  that 
I  took  scant  notice  of  Udolpho  as  we  walked 
about  its  adjacent  grounds  in  the  twilight  before 
supper,  and  John  Mayrant  pointed  out  to  me  its 
fine  old  trees,  its  placid  stream,  and  bade  me  ad 
mire  the  snug  character  of  the  hunting  lodge, 
buried  away  for  bachelors'  delights  deep  in  the 
heart  of  the  pleasant  forest.  I  heard  him  indulg 
ing  in  memories  and  anecdotes  of  late  sittings 
after  long  hunts;  but  I  was  myself  always  on  a 
hunt  for  my  beginning,  and  none  of  his  words 
clearly  reached  my  intelligence  until  I  was  aware 
of  his  reciting  an  excellently  pertinent  couplet :  — 


334  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  If  you  would  hold  your  father's  land, 
You  must  wash  your  throat  before  your  hand  —  " 

and  found  myself  standing  by  the  lodge  table, 
upon  which  he  had  set  two  glasses,  containing,  I 
soon  ascertained,  gin,  vermouth,  orange  bitters, 
and  a  cherry  at  the  bottom  —  all  which  he  had 
very  skilfully  mingled  himself  in  the  happiest 
proportions. 

"  The  poetry,"  he  remarked,  "  is  hereditary  in 
my  family ;  "  and  setting  down  the  empty  glasses 
we  also  washed  our  hands.  A  moon  half-grown 
looked  in  at  the  window  from  the  filmy  darkness, 
and  John,  catching  sight  of  it,  paused  with  the 
wet  soap  in  his  hand  and  stared  out  at  the  dimly 
visible  trees.  "  Oh,  the  times,  the  times ! "  he 
murmured  to  himself,  gazing  long ;  and  then  with 
a  sort  of  start  he  returned  to  the  present  moment, 
and  rinsed  and  dried  his  hands.  Presently  we 
were  sitting  at  the  table,  pledging  each  other  in 
well-cooled  champagne  ;  and  it  was  not  long  after 
this  that  not  only  the  negro  who  waited  on  us  was 
plainly  revelling  in  John's  remarks,  but  also  the 
cook,  with  her  bandannaed  ebony  head  poked 
round  the  corner  of  the  kitchen  door,  was  doing 
her  utmost  to  lose  no  word  of  this  entertainment. 
For  John,  taking  up  the  young  and  the  old,  the 
quick  and  the  dead,  of  masculine  Kings  Port,  pro 
ceeded  to  narrate  their  private  exploits,  until  by 
coffee-time  he  had  unrolled  for  me  the  richest 
tapestry  of  gayeties  that  I  remember,  and  I  sat 
without  breath,  tearful  and  aching,  while  the  two 
negroes  had  retired  far  into  the  kitchen  to  mufHe 
their  emotions. 


The  negro  who  waited  on  us" 


UDOLPHO  337 

"  Tom,  oh  Tom  !  you  Tom  !  "  called  John  May- 
rant;  and  after  the  man  had  come  from  the 
kitchen :  "  You  may  put  the  punch-bowl  and 
things  on  the  table,  and  clear  away  and  go  to 
bed.  My  Great-uncle  Marston  Chartain,"  he  con 
tinued  to  me,  "  was  of  eccentric  taste,  and  for  the 
last  twenty  years  of  his  life  never  had  anybody  to 
dinner  but  the  undertaker."  He  paused  at  this 
point  to  mix  the  punch,  and  then  resumed:  "  But 
for  all  that,  he  appears  to  have  been  a  lively  old 
gentleman  to  the  end,  and  left  us  his  version  of  a 
saying  which  is  considered  by  some  people  an  im 
provement  on  the  original,  '  Cherchez  la  femmel 
Uncle  Marston  had  it,  'Hunt  the  other  woman.' 
Don't  go  too  fast  with  that  punch ;  it  isn't  as 
gentle  as  it  seems." 

But  John  and  his  Uncle  Marston  had  between 
them  given  me  my  beginning,  and,  as  I  sat  sip 
ping  my  punch,  I  ceased  to  hear  the  anecdotes 
which  followed.  I  sat  sipping  and  smoking,  and 
was  presently  aware  of  the  deepening  silence  of 
the  night,  and  of  John  no  longer  at  the  table,  but 
by  the  window,  looking  out  into  the  forest,  and 
muttering  once  more,  "  Oh,  the  times,  the  times  !  " 

"  It's  always  a  triangle,"  I  began. 

He  turned  round  from  his  window.  "  Tri 
angle  ? "  He  looked  at  my  glass  of  punch,  and 
then  at  me.  "  Go  easy  with  the  Bombo,"  he  re 
peated. 

"  Bombo  ?  "  I  echoed.  "  You  call  this  Bombo  ? 
You  don't  know  how  remarkable  that  is,  but  that's 
because  you  don't  know  Aunt  Carola,  who  is  very 
remarkable,  too.  Well,  never  mind  her  now. 
Point  is,  it's  always  a  triangle." 


338  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  I  haven't  a  doubt  of  it,"  he  replied. 

"  There  you're  right.  And  so  was  your  uncle. 
He  knew.  Triangle."  Here  I  found  myself  nod 
ding  portentously  at  John,  and  beating  the  table 
with  my  finger  very  solemnly. 

He  stood  by  his  window  seeming  to  wait  for 
me.  And  now  everything  in  the  universe  grew 
perfectly  clear  to  me ;  I  rose  on  mastering  tides 
of  thought,  and  all  problems  lay  disposed  of  at  my 
feet,  while  delicious  strength  and  calm  floated  in 
my  brain  and  being.  Nothing  was  difficult  for 
me.  But  I  was  getting  away  from  the  triangle, 
and  there  was  John  waiting  at  the  window,  and  I 
mustn't  say  too  much,  mustn't  say  too  much.  My 
will  reached  out  and  caught  the  triangle  and 
brought  it  close,  and  I  saw  it  all  perfectly  clear 
again. 

"  What  are  they  all,"  I  said,  "  the  old  romances? 
You  take  Paris  and  Helen  and  Menelaus.  What's 
that?  You  take  Launcelot  and  Arthur  and 
Guinevere.  You  take  Paola  and  Francesca 
and  her  husband,  what's-his-name,  or  Tristram 
and  Iseult  and  Mark.  Two  men,  one  woman. 
Triangle  and  trouble.  Other  way  around  you 
get  Tannhauser  and  Venus  and  Elizabeth;  two 
women,  one  man  ;  more  triangle  and  more  trouble. 
Yes."  And  I  nodded  at  him  again.  The  tide  of 
my  thought  was  pulling  me  hard  away  from  this 
to  other  important  world-problems,  but  my  will 
held,  struggling,  and  I  kept  to  it. 

"You  wait,"  I  told  him.  "I  know  what  I 
mean.  Trouble  is,  so  hard  to  advise  him  right." 

"  Advise  who  right  ?  "  inquired  John  Mayrant. 

It  helped  me  wonderfully.     My  will  gripped  my 


UDOLPHO  339 

floating  thoughts  and  held  them  to  it.  "  Friend 
of  mine  in  trouble ;  though  why  he  asks  me  when 
I'm  not  married  —  I'd  be  married  now,  you  know, 
but  afraid  of  only  one  wife.  Man  doesn't  love 
twice;  loves  thrice,  four,  six,  lots  of  times;  but 
they  say  only  one  wife.  Ought  to  be  two,  any 
how.  Much  easier  for  man  to  marry  then." 

"  Wouldn't  it  be  rather  immoral  ?  "  John  asked. 

"  Morality  is  queer  thing.  Like  kaleidoscope. 
New  patterns  all  the  time.  Abraham  and  wives 
—  perfectly  respectable.  You  take  Pharaohs  — 
or  kings  of  that  sort  —  married  own  sisters.  All 
right  then.  Perfectly  horrible  now,  of  course. 
But  you  ask  men  about  two  wives.  They'd  say 
something  to  be  said  for  that  idea.  Only  there 
are  the  women,  you  know.  They'd  never.  But 
I'm  going  to  tell  my  friend  he's  doing  wrong. 
Going  to  write  him  to-night.  Where's  ink  ?  " 

"  It  won't  go  to-night,"  said  John.  "  What  are 
you  going  to  tell  him  ?  " 

"  Going  to  tell  him,  since  only  one  wife,  wicked 
not  to  break  his  engagement." 

John  looked  at  me  very  hard,  as  he  stood  by  the 
window,  leaning  on  the  sill.  But  my  will  was 
getting  all  the  while  a  stronger  hold,  and  my 
thoughts  were  less  and  less  inclined  to  stray  to 
other  world-problems  ;  moreover,  below  the  con 
fusion  that  still  a  little  reigned  in  them  was  the 
primal  cunning  of  the  old  Adam,  the  native  man, 
quite  untroubled  and  alert  —  it  saw  John's  look  at 
me  and  it  prompted  my  course. 

"  Yes,"  I  said.  "  He  wants  the  truth  from  me. 
Where's  his  letter  ?  No  harm  reading  you  with 
out  names."  And  I  fumbled  in  my  pocket. 


340  LADY  BALTIMORE 

"  Letter  gone.  Never  mind.  Facts  are  :  friend's 
asked  girl.  Girl's  said  yes.  Now  he  thinks  he's 
bound  by  that." 

"  He  thinks  right,"  said  John. 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it.  You  take  Tannhauser.  En 
gagement  to  Venus  all  a  mistake.  Perfectly 
proper  to  break  it.  Much  more  than  proper. 
Only  honorable  thing  he  could  do.  I'm  going 
to  write  it  to  him.  Where's  ink  ? "  And  I 
got  up. 

John  came  from  his  window  and  sat  down  at 
the  table.  His  glass  was  empty,  his  cigar  gone 
out,  and  he  looked  at  me.  But  I  looked  round 
the  room  for  the  ink,  noting  in  my  search  the  big 
fireplace,  simple,  wooden,  unornamented,  but  gen 
erous,  and  the  plain  plaster  walls  of  the  lodge, 
whereon  hung  two  or  three  old  prints  of  game- 
birds  ;  and  all  the  while  I  saw  John  out  of  the 
corner  of  my  eye,  looking  at  me. 

He  spoke  first.  "  Your  friend  has  given  his 
word  to  a  lady ;  he  must  stand  by  it  like  a  gentle 


man." 


"  Lot  of  difference,"  I  returned,  still  looking 
round  the  room,  "between  spirit  and  letter.  If 
his  heart  has  broken  the  word,  his  lips  can't  make 
him  a  gentleman." 

John  brought  his  fist  down  on  the  table.  "  He 
had  no  business  to  get  engaged  to  her !  He  must 
take  the  consequences." 

That  blow  of  the  fist  on  the  table  brought  my 
thoughts  wholly  clear  and  fixed  on  the  one  sub 
ject  ;  my  will  had  no  longer  to  struggle  with  them, 
they  worked  of  themselves  in  just  the  way  that  I 
wanted  them  to  do. 


UDOLPHO  341 

"  If  he's  a  gentleman,  he  must  stand  to  his 
word,"  John  repeated,  "  unless  she  releases  him." 

I  fumbled  again  for  my  letter.  "  That's  just 
about  what  he  says  himself,"  I  rejoined,  sitting 
down.  "  He  thinks  he  ought  to  take  the  con 
sequences." 

"  Of  course  ! "  John  Mayrant's  face  was  very 
stern  as  he  sat  in  judgment  on  himself. 

"  But  why  should  she  take  the  consequences  ?  " 
I  asked. 

"  What  consequences  ?  " 

"  Being  married  to  a  man  who  doesn't  want  her, 
all  her  life,  until  death  them  do  part.  How's 
that  ?  Having  the  daily  humiliation  of  his  indif 
ference,  and  the  world's  knowledge  of  his  indiffer 
ence.  How's  that?  Perhaps  having  the  further 
humiliation  of  knowing  that  his  heart  belongs  to 
another  woman.  How's  that  ?  That's  not  what 
a  girl  bargains  for.  His  standing  to  his  word  is  not 
an  act  of  honor,  but  a  deception.  And  in  talking 
about  'taking  the  consequences,'  he's  patting  his 
personal  sacrifice  on  the  back  and  forgetting  all 
about  her  and  the  sacrifice  he's  putting  her  to. 
What's  the  brief  suffering  of  a  broken  engage 
ment  to  that  ?  No :  the  true  consequences  that  a 
man  should  shoulder  for  making  such  a  mistake  is 
the  poor  opinion  that  society  holds  of  him  for 
placing  a  woman  in  such  a  position  ;  and  to  free 
her  is  the  most  honorable  thing  he  can  do.  Her 
dignity  suffers  less  so  than  if  she  were  a  wife 
chained  down  to  perpetual  disregard." 

John,  after  a  silence,   said:  "That   is   a   very 


curious  view." 


"  That  is  the  view    I  shall  give  my  friend,"  I 


342  LADY   BALTIMORE 

answered.  "  I  shall  tell  him  that  in  keeping  on  he 
is  not  at  bottom  honestly  thinking  of  the  girl  and 
her  welfare,  but  of  himself  and  the  public  opinion 
he's  afraid  of,  if  he  breaks  his  engagement.  And 
I  shall  tell  him  that  if  I'm  in  church  and  they 
come  to  the  place  where  they  ask  if  any  man 
knows  just  cause  or  impediment,  I  shall  probably 
call  out,  '  He  does  !  His  heart's  not  in  it.  This  is 
not  marriage  that  he's  committing.  You're  pro 
nouncing  your  blessing  upon  a  fraud." 

John  sat  now  a  long  time  silent,  holding  his 
extinct  cigar.  The  lamp  was  almost  burned  dry  ; 
we  had  blown  out  the  expiring  candles  some  while 
since.  "  That  is  a  very  curious  view,"  he  repeated. 
"  I  should  like  to  hear  what  your  friend  says  in 


answer." 


This  finished  our  late  sitting.  We  opened  the 
door  and  went  out  for  a  brief  space  into  the  night 
to  get  its  pure  breath  into  our  lungs,  and  look 
to  the  distant  place  where  the  moon  had  sailed. 
Then  we  went  to  bed,  or  rather,  I  did ;  for  the  last 
thing  that  I  remembered  was  John,  standing  by  the 
window  of  our  bedroom  still  dressed,  looking  out 
into  the  forest. 


XX 


WHAT    SHE    WANTED    HIM    FOR 

HE  was  neither  at  the  window,  nor  in  his  bed, 
nor  anywhere  else  to  be  seen,  when  I  opened 
my  eyes  upon  the  world  next  morning ;  nor  did 
any  answer  come  when  I  called  his  name.  I  raised 
myself  and  saw  outside  the  great  branches  of  the 
wood,  bathed  from  top  to  trunk  in  a  sunshine  that 
was  no  early  morning's  light;  and  upon  this,  the 
silence  of  the  house  spoke  plainly  to  me  not  of 
man  still  sleeping,  but  of  man  long  risen  and  gone 
about  his  business.  I  stepped  barefoot  across  the 
wooden  floor  to  where  lay  my  watch,  but  it  marked 
an  unearthly  hour,  for  I  had  neglected  to  wind  it 
at  the  end  of  our  long  and  convivial  evening  —  of 
which  my  head  was  now  giving  me  some  news. 
And  then  I  saw  a  note  addressed  to  me  from  John 
Mayrant. 

"  You  are  a  good  sleeper,"  it  began,  "  but  my 
conscience  is  clear  as  to  the  Bombo,  called  by 
some  Kill-devil,  about  which  I  hope  you  will  re 
member  that  I  warned  you." 

He  hoped  I  should  remember  !  Of  course  I 
remembered  everything ;  why  did  he  say  that  ? 
An  apology  for  his  leaving  me  followed ;  he  had 
been  obliged  to  take  the  early  train  because  of 
the  Custom  House,  where  he  was  serving  his 
final  days ;  they  would  give  me  breakfast  when- 

343 


344  LADY   BALTIMORE 

ever  I  should  be  ready  for  it,  and  I  was  to  make 
free  of  the  place  ;  I  had  better  visit  the  old  church 
(they  had  orders  about  the  keys)  and  drive  myself 
into  Kings  Port  after  lunch ;  the  horses  would 
know  the  way,  if  I  did  not.  It  was  the  boy's  clos 
ing  sentence  which  fixed  my  attention  wholly, 
took  it  away  from  Kill-devil  Bombo  and  my  Aunt 
Carola's  commission,  for  the  execution  of  which  I 
now  held  the  clue,  and  sent  me  puzzling  for  the 
right  interpretation  of  his  words :  — 

u  I  believe  that  you  will  help  your  friend  by  that 
advice  which  startled  me  last  night,  but  which  I 
now  begin  to  see  more  in  than  I  did.  Only 
between  alternate  injuries,  he  may  find  it  harder 
to  choose  which  is  the  least  he  can  inflict,  than 
you,  who  look  on,  find  it.  For  in  following  your 
argument,  he  benefits  himself  so  plainly  that  the 
benefit  to  the  other  person  is  very  likely  obscured 
to  him.  But,  if  you  wish  to,  tell  him  a  Southern 
gentleman  would  feel  he  ought  to  be  shot  either 
way.  That's  the  honorable  price  for  changing 
your  mind  in  such  a  case." 

No  interpretation  of  this  came  to  me.  I  planned 
and  carried  out  my  day  according  to  his  sugges 
tion  ;  a  slow  dressing  with  much  cold  water,  a 
slow  breakfast  with  much  good  hot  coffee,  a  slow 
wandering  beneath  the  dreamy  branches  of  Udol- 
pho, —  this  course  cleared  my  head  of  the  Bombo, 
and  brought  back  to  me  our  whole  evening,  and 
every  word  I  had  said  to  John,  except  that  I  had 
lost  the  solution  which,  last  night,  the  triangle 
had  held  for  me.  At  that  moment,  the  triangle, 
and  my  whole  dealing  with  the  subject  of  monog 
amy,  had  seemed  to  contain  the  simplicity  of 


WHAT   SHE   WANTED   HIM   FOR  345 

genius ;  but  it  had  all  gone  now,  and  I  couldn't 


W'ti. 

' 


get  it  back  ;  only,  what  I  had  contrived  to  say  to 
John  about  his  own  predicament  had  been  cer- 


346  LADY   BALTIMORE 

tainly  well  said ;  I  would  say  that  over  again 
to-day.  It  was  the  boy  and  the  meaning  of  his 
words  which  escaped  me  still,  baffled  me,  and 
formed  the  whole  subject  of  my  attention,  even 
when  I  was  inside  the  Tern  Creek  church ;  so  that 
I  retain  nothing  of  that,  save  a  general  quaintness, 
a  general  loneliness,  a  little  deserted,  forgotten  token 
of  human  doings  long  since  done,  standing  on  its 
little  acre  of  wilderness  amid  that  solitude  which 
suggests  the  departed  presence  of  man,  and  which 
is  so  much  more  potent  in  the  flavor  of  its  desola 
tion  than  the  virgin  wilderness  whose  solitude  is 
still  waiting  for  man  to  come. 

It  made  no  matter  whether  John  had  believed 
in  the  friend  to  whom  I  intended  writing  advice, 
or  had  seen  through  and  accepted  in  goqd  part 
my  manoeuvre  ;  he  had  considered  my  words,  that 
was  the  point ;  and  he  had  not  slept  in  his  bed, 
but  on  it,  if  sleep  had  come  to  him  at  all ;  this  I 
found  out  while  dressing.  Several  times  I  read 
his  note  over.  "  Between  alternate  injuries  he 
may  find  it  harder  to  choose."  This  was  not  an 
answer  to  me,  but  an  explanation  of  his  own  per 
plexity.  At  times  it  sounded  almost  like  an  appeal, 
as  if  he  were  saying,  "  Do  not  blame  me  for  not 
being  convinced ; "  and  if  it  was  such  appeal,  why, 
then,  taken  with  his  resolve  to  do  right  at  any 
cost,  and  his  night  of  inward  contention,  it  was 
poignant.  "  I  believe  that  you  will  help  your 
friend."  Those  words  sounded  better.  But  — 
"  tell  him  a  Southern  gentleman  ought  to  be  shot 
either  way."  What  was  the  meaning  of  this  ?  A 
chill  import  rose  from  it  into  my  thoughts,  but 
that  I  dismissed.  To  die  on  account  of  Hortense  ! 


WHAT   SHE   WANTED    HIM    FOR  347 

Such  a  thing  was  not  to  be  conceived.  And  yet, 
given  a  high-strung  nature,  not  only  trapped  by 
its  own  standards,  but  also  wrought  upon  during 
many  days  by  increasing  exasperation  and  unhap- 
piness  while  helpless  in  the  trap,  and  with  no 
other  outlook  but  the  trap :  the  chill  import  re 
turned  to  me  more  than  once,  and  was  reasoned 
away,  as,  with  no  attention  to  my  surroundings,  I 
took  a  pair  of  oars,  and  got  into  a  boat  belonging 
to  the  lodge,  and  rowed  myself  slowly  among  the 
sluggish  windings  of  Tern  Creek. 

Whence  come  those  thoughts  that  we  ourselves 
feel  shame  at  ?  It  shamed  me  now,  as  I  pulled  my 
boat  along,  that  I  should  have  thoughts  of  John 
which  needed  banishing.  What  tale  would  this 
be  to  remember  of  a  boy's  life,  that  he  gave  it  to 
buy  freedom  from  a  pledge  which  need  never  have 
been  binding  ?  What  pearl  was  this  to  cast  be 
fore  the  sophisticated  Hortense  ?  Such  act  would 
be  robbed  of  its  sadness  by  its  absurdity.  Yet, 
surely,  the  bitterest  tragedies  are  those  of  which 
the  central  anguish  is  lost  amid  the  dust  of  sur 
rounding  paltriness.  If  such  a  thing  should  hap 
pen  here,  no  one  but  myself  would  have  seen  the 
lonely  figure  of  John  Mayrant,  standing  by  the 
window  and  looking  out  into  the  dark  quiet  of 
the  wood ;  his  name  would  be  passed  down  for  a 
little  while  as  the  name  of  a  fool,  and  then  he 
would  be  forgotten.  "  I  believe  that  you  will  help 
your  friend."  Yes  ;  he  had  certainly  written  that, 
and  it  now  came  to  me  that  I  might  have  said  to 
him  one  thing  more  :  Had  he  given  Hortense  the 
chance  to  know  what  his  feelings  to  her  had  become  ? 
But  he  would  merely  have  answered  that  here  it 


348  LADY   BALTIMORE 

was  the  duty  of  a  gentleman  to  lie.     Or,  had  he 
possibly,  at  Newport,  ever  become  her  lover  too 
much  for  any  escaping  now  ?     Had  his  dead  pas 
sion  once   put   his  honor  in  a  pawn  which  only 
marriage  could  redeem  ?     This  might  fit  all  that 
had  come,  so  far;    and  still,  with  such  a  two  as 
they,  I  should  forever  hold  the  boy  the  woman's 
victim.     But   this   did    not  fit  what    came   after. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  late  sitting  of  the  night  before, 
and  the  hushed  and  strange  solitude  of  my  sur 
roundings  now,  that  had  laid  my  mind  open  to  all 
these  thoughts  which  my  reason,  in  dealing  with, 
answered  continually,  one  by  one,  yet  which  re 
turned,  requiring  to  be  answered  again ;  for  there 
are  times  when  our  uncomfortable  eyes  see  through 
the  appearances  we  have  arranged  for  daily  life, 
into  the  actualities  which  lie  forever  behind  them. 
Going  about  thus  in  my  boat,  I  rowed  sleepi 
ness  into  myself,  and  pushed  into  a  nook  where 
shade  from  some  thick  growth  hid  the  boat  and 
me  from  the  sun  ;  and  there,  almost  enmeshed  in 
the  deep  lattice  of  green,  I  placed  my  coat  beneath 
my  head,  and  prone  in  the  boat's  bottom  I  drifted 
into  slumber.     Once   or   twice    my  oblivion  was 
pierced  by  the  roaming  honk  of  the  automobile  ; 
but  with  no  more  than  the  half-melted  conscious 
ness  that  the  Replacers  were  somewhere  in  the 
wood,  oblivion  closed  over  me  again;  and  when 
it  altogether  left  me,  it  was  because  of  voices  near 
me  on   the  water,  or  on   the  bank.     Their  calls 
and  laughter  pushed  themselves  into  my  drowsi 
ness,  and  soon  after  I  grew  aware  that  the  Re- 
placers  were  come  here  to  see  what  was  to  be  seen 
at  Udolpho  —  the  club,  the  old  church,  a  country 


John,  after  a  silence,  said:    'That  is  a  very  curious  view'" 


WHAT   SHE   WANTED    HIM   FOR  351 

place  with  a  fine  avenue  —  and  that  it  was  the 
church  they  now  couldn't  get  into,  because  my 
visit  had  disturbed  the  usual  whereabouts  of  the 
key,  of  which  Gazza  was  now  going  in  search.  I 
could  have  told  him  where  to  find  it,  but  it  pleased 
me  not  to  disturb  myself  for  this,  as  I  listened  to 
him  assuring  Kitty  that  it  was  probably  in  the 
cabin  beyond  the  bridge,  but  not  to  be  alarmed  if 
he  did  not  immediately  return  with  it.  Kitty,  not 
without  audible  mirth,  assured  him  that  they 
should  not  be  alarmed  at  all,  to  which  the  voice 
of  Hortense  supplemented,  "  Not  at  all."  They 
were  evidently  in  a  boat,  which  Hortense  herself 
was  rowing,  and  which  she  seemed  to  bring  to  the 
bank,  where  I  gathered  that  Kitty  got  out  and  sat 
while  Hortense  remained  in  the  boat.  There  was 
the  little  talk  and  movement  which  goes  with  bor 
rowing  of  a  cigarette,  a  little  exclamation  about 
not  falling  out,  accompanied  by  the  rattle  of  a 
displaced  oar,  and  then  stillness,  and  the  smell  of 
tobacco  smoke. 

Presently  Kitty  spoke.  "  Charley  will  be  back 
to-night." 

To  this  I  heard  no  reply. 

"  What  did  his  telegram  say  ?  "  Kitty  inquired, 
after  another  silence. 

"It's  all  right."  This  was  Hortense.  Her 
slow,  rich  murmur  was  as  deliberate  as  always. 

"  Mr.  Bohm  knew  it  would  be,"  said  Kitty. 
"  He  said  it  wouldn't  take  five  minutes'  talk  from 
Charley  to  get  a  contract  worth  double  what  they 
were  going  to  accept." 

After  this,  nothing  came  to  me  for  several 
minutes,  save  the  odor  of  the  cigarettes. 


352  LADY  BALTIMORE 

Of  course  there  was  now  but  one  proper  course 
for  me,  namely,  to  utter  a  discreet  cough,  and 
thus  warn  them  that  some  one  was  within  ear 
shot.  But  I  didn't!  I  couldn't!  Strength  failed, 
curiosity  won,  my  baser  nature  triumphed  here, 
and  I  deliberately  remained  lying  quiet  and  hid 
den.  It  was  the  act  of  no  gentleman,  you  will 
say.  Well,  it  was  ;  and  I  must  simply  confess  to 
it,  hoping  that  I  am  not  the  only  gentleman  in 
the  world  who  has,  on  occasion,  fallen  beneath 
himself. 

"  Hortense  Rieppe,"  began  Kitty,  "  what  do  you 
intend  to  say  to  my  brother  after  what  he  has 
done  about  those  phosphates  ?  " 

"  He  is  always  so  kind,"  murmured  Hortense. 

"  Well,  you  know  what  it  means." 

"Means?" 

"  If  you  persist  in  this  folly,  you'll  drop  out." 

Hortense  chose  another  line  of  speculation. 
"  I  wonder  why  your  brother  is  so  sure  of  me  ? " 

"  Charley  is  a  set  man.  And  I've  never  seen 
him  so  set  on  anything  as  on  you,  Hortense 
Rieppe." 

"  He  is  always  so  kind,"  murmured  Hortense 
again. 

"  He's  a  man  you'll  always  know  just  where  to 
find,"  declared  Kitty.  "Charley  is  safe.  He'll 
never  take  you  by  surprise,  never  fly  out,  never  do 
what  other  people  don't  do,  never  make  any  one 
stare  at  him  by  the  way  he  looks,  or  the  way  he 
acts,  or  anything  he  says,  or  —  or  —  why,  how  you 
can  hesitate  between  those  two  men  after  that 
ridiculous,  childish,  conspicuous,  unusual  scene  on 
the  bridge  —  " 


WHAT   SHE   WANTED    HIM   FOR  353 

"  Unusual.     Yes,"  said  Hortense. 

Kitty's  eloquence  and  voice  mounted  together. 
"  I  should  think  it  was  unusual !  Tearing  peo 
ple's  money  up,  and  making  a  rude,  awkward  fuss 
that  everybody  h^d  to  smooth  over  as  hard  as  they 
could !  Why,  even  Mr.  Rodgers  says  that  sort  of 
thing  isn't  done,  and  you're  always  saying  he 
knows." 

"  No,"  said  Hortense.     "  It  isn't  done." 

"  Well,  I've  never  seen  anything  approaching 
such  behavior  in  our  set.  And  he  was  ready  to 
go  further.  Nobody  knows  where  it  might  have 
gone  to,  if  Charley's  perfect  coolness  hadn't 
rebuked  him  and  brought  him  to  his  senses. 
There's  where  it  is,  that's  what  I  mean,  Hortense, 
by  saying  you  could  always  feel  safe  with 
Charley." 

Hortense  put  in  a  languid  word.  "  I  think  I 
should  always  feel  safe  with  Mr.  Mayrant." 

But  Kitty  was  a  simple  soul.  "  Indeed  you 
couldn't,  Hortense !  I  assure  you  that  you're 
mistaken.  There's  where  you  get  so  wrong  about 
men  sometimes.  I  have  been  studying  that  boy 
for  your  sake  ever  since  we  got  here,  and  I  know 
him  through  and  through.  And  I  tell  you,  you 
cannot  count  upon  him.  He  has  not  been  used  to 
our  ways,  and  I  see  no  promise  of  his  getting  used  to 
them.  He  will  stay  capable  of  outbreaks  like  that 
horrid  one  on  the  bridge.  Wherever  you  take 
him,  wherever  you  put  him,  no  matter  how  much 
you  show  him  of  us,  and  the  way  we  don't  allow 
conspicuous  things  like  that  to  occur,  believe  me, 
Hortense,  he'll  never  learn,  he'll  never  smooth 
down.  You  may  brush  his  hair  flat  and  keep  him 

2  A 


354  LADY   BALTIMORE 

appearing  like  other  people  for  a  while,  but  a 
time  will  come,  something  will  happen,  and  that 
boy '11  be  conspicuous.  Charley  would  never  be 
conspicuous." 

"  No,"  assented  Hortense. 

Kitty  urged  her  point.  "  Why,  I  never  saw  or 
heard  of  anything  like  that  on  the  bridge  —  that 
is,  among  —  among  —  us  !  " 

"  No,"  assented  Hortense,  again,  and  her  voice 
dropped  lower  with  each  statement.  "  One  al 
ways  sees  the  same  thing.  Always  hears  the 
same  thing.  Always  the  same  thing."  These 
last  almost  inaudible  words  sank  away  into  the 
silent  pool  of  Hortense's  meditation. 

"  Have  another  cigarette,"  said  Kitty.  "  You've 
let  yours  fall  into  the  water." 

I  heard  them  moving  a  little,  and  then  they 
must  have  resumed  their  seats. 

"  You'll  drop  out  of  it,"  Kitty  now  pursued. 

"  Into  what  shall  I  drop  ?  " 

"  Just  being  asked  to  the  big  things  everybody 
goes  to  and  nobody  counts.  For  even  with  the 
way  Charley  has  arranged  about  the  phosphates, 
it  will  not  be  enough  to  keep  you  in  our  swim  — 
just  by  itself.  He'll  weigh  more  than  his  money, 
because  he'll  stay  different  —  too  different." 

"  He  was  not  so  different  last  summer." 

"  Because  he  was  not  there  long  enough,  my 
dear.  He  learned  bridge  quickly,  and  of  course  he 
had  seen  champagne  before,  and  nobody  had  time 
to  notice  him.  But  he'll  be  married  now,  and 
they  will  notice  him,  and  they  won't  want  him. 
To  think  of  your  dropping  out !  "  Kitty  became 
very  earnest.  "  To  think  of  not  seeing  you  among 


WHAT   SHE   WANTED    HIM    FOR  355 

us  !  You'll  be  in  none  of  the  small  things ;  you'll 
never  be  asked  to  stay  at  the  smart  houses — why, 
not  even  your  name  will  be  in  the  paper !  Not  a 
foreigner  you  entertain,  not  a  dinner  you  give, 
not  a  thing  you  wear,  will  ever  be  described  next 
morning.  And  Charley's  so  set  on  you,  and 
you're  so  just  exactly  made  for  each  other,  and  it 
would  all  be  so  splendid,  and  cosey,  and  jolly! 
And  to  throw  all  this  away  for  that  crude  boy  ! " 
Kitty's  disdain  was  high  at  the  thought  of  John.^ 

Hortense  took  a  little  time  over  it.  "  Once," 
she  then  stated,  "  he  told  me  he  could  drown  in 
my  hair  as  joyfully  as  the  Duke  of  Clarence  did 
in  his  butt  of  Malmsey  wine  !  " 

Kitty  gave  a  little  scream.    "  Did  you  let  him?  " 

"  One  has  to  guard  one's  value  at  times." 

Kitty's  disdain  for  John  increased.  "  How 
crude ! " 

Hortense  did  not  make  any  answer. 

"How  crude!"  Kitty,  after  some  silence,  re 
peated.  She  seemed  to  have  found  the  right 
word. 

Steps  sounded  upon  the  bridge,  and  the  voice 
of  Gazza  cried  out  that  the  stupid  key  was  at  the 
imbecile  club-house,  whither  he  was  now  going 
for  it,  and  not  to  be  alarmed.  Their  voices  an 
swered  reassuringly,  and  Gazza  was  heard  growing 
distant,  singing  some  little  song. 

Kitty  was  apparently  unable  to  get  away  from 
John's  crudity.  "  He  actually  said  that  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Where  was  it  ?     Tell  me  about  it,  Hortense." 

"  We  were  walking  in  the  country  on  that  occa 


sion." 


356  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Kitty  still  lingered  with  it.  "  Did  he  look  — 
I've  never  had  any  man  —  I  wonder  if  —  how  did 
you  feel  ?  " 

"  Not  disagreeably."  And  Hortense  permitted 
herself  to  laugh  musically. 

Kitty's  voice  at  once  returned  to  the  censorious 
tone.  "  Well,  I  call  such  language  as  that  very  — 
very  —  " 

Hortense  helped  her.     "  Operatic  ?  " 

"  He  could  never  be  taught  in  those  ways 
either,"  declared  Kitty.  "  You  would  find  his 
ardor  always  untrained — provincial." 

Once  more  Hortense  abstained  from  making 
any  answer. 

Kitty  grew  superior.  "  Well,  if  that's  to  your 
taste,  Hortense  Rieppe  !  " 

"  It  was  none  of  it  like  Charley,"  murmured 
Hortense. 

"I  should  think  not!  Charley's  not  crude. 
What  do  you  see  in  that  man  ?  " 

"  I  like  the  way  his  hair  curls  above  his  ears." 

For  this  Kitty  found  nothing  but  an  impatient 
exclamation. 

And  now  the  voice  of  Hortense  sank  still  deeper 
in  dreaminess,  —  down  to  where  the  truth  lay ; 
and  from  those  depths  came  the  truth,  flashing 
upward  through  the  drowsy  words  she  spoke : 
"  I  think  I  want  him  for  his  innocence." 

What  light  these  words  may  have  brought  to 
Kitty,  I  had  no  chance  to  learn ;  for  the  voice  of 
Gazza  returning  with  the  key  put  an  end  to  this 
conversation.  But  I  doubted  if  Kitty  had  it  in 
her  to  fathom  the  nature  of  Hortense.  Kitty  was 
like  a  trim  little  clock  that  could  tick  tidily  on  an 


WHAT   SHE   WANTED    HIM    FOR  357 

ornate  shelf;  she  could  go,  she  could  keep  up 
with  time,  with  the  rapid  epoch  to  which  she  be 
longed,  but  she  didn't  really  have  many  works. 
I  think  she  would  have  scoffed  at  that  last  lan 
guorous  speech  as  a  piece  of  Hortense's  nonsense, 
and  that  is  why  Hortense  uttered  it  aloud:  she 
was  safe  from  being  understood.  But  in  my  ears 
it  sounded  the  note  of  revelation,  the  simple 
central  secret  of  Hortense's  fire,  a  flame  fed  over 
much  with  experience,  with  sophistication,  grown 
cold  under  the  ministrations  of  adroitness,  and 
lighted  now  by  the  "crudity  "  of  John's  love-mak 
ing.  And  when,  after  an  interval,  I  had  rowed 
my  boat  back,  and  got  into  the  carriage,  and 
started  on  my  long  drive  from  Udolpho  to  Kings 
Port,  I  found  that  there  was  almost  nothing  about 
all  this  which  I  did  not  know  now.  Hortense, 
like  most  riddles  when  you  are  told  the  answer, 
was  clear :  — 

"  I  think  I  want  him  for  his  innocence." 
Yes ;  she  was  tired  of  love-making  whose  down 
had  been  rubbed  off ;  she  hungered  for  love-mak 
ing  with  the  down  still  on,  even  if  she  must  pay 
for  it  with  marriage.  Who  shall  say  if  her  en 
lightened  and  modern  eye  could  not  look  beyond 
such  marriage  (when  it  should  grow  monotonous) 
to  divorce  ? 


XXI 

HORTENSE'S  CIGARETTE  GOES  OUT 

JOHN  was  the  riddle  that  I  could  not  read. 
Among  my  last  actions  of  this  day  was  one 
that  had  been  almost  my  earliest,  and  bedtime 
found  me  staring  at  his  letter,  as  I  stood,  half  un 
dressed,  by  my  table.  The  calm  moon  brought 
back  Udolpho  and  what  had  been  said  there,  as 
it  now  shone  down  upon  the  garden  where  Hor- 
tense  had  danced.  I  stared  at  John's  letter  as  if 
its  words  were  new  to  me,  instead  of  being  words 
that  I  could  have  fluently  repeated  from  begin 
ning  to  end  without  an  error;  it  was  as  if,  by 
virtue  of  mere  gazing  at  the  document,  I  hoped 
to  wring  more  meaning  from  it,  to  divine  what 
had  been  in  the  mind  which  had  composed  it ; 
but  instead  of  this,  I  seemed  to  get  less  from  it, 
instead  of  more.  Had  the  boy's  purpose  been 
to  mystify  me,  he  could  scarce  have  done  better. 
I  think  that  he  had  no  such  intention,  for  it  would 
have  been  wholly  unlike  him ;  but  I  saw  no  sign 
in  it  that  I  had  really  helped  him,  had  really 
shaken  his  old  quixotic  resolve,  nor  did  I  see  any  ' 
of  his  having  found  a  new  way  of  his  own  out  of 
the  trap.  I  could  not  believe  that  the  dark  road 
of  escape  had  taken  any  lodgement  in  his  thought, 
but  had  only  passed  over  it,  like  a  cloud  with  a 
heavy  shadow.  But  these  are  surmises  at  the 

358 


HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES  OUT        359 

best:  if  John  had  formed  any  plan,  I  can  never 
know  it,  and  Juno's  remarks  at  breakfast  on  Sun 
day  morning  sounded  strange,  like  something  a 
thousand  miles  away.  For  she  spoke  of  the  wed 
ding,  and  of  the  fact  that  it  would  certainly  be  a 
small  one.  She  went  over  the  names  of  the  peo 
ple  who  would  have  to  be  invited,  and  doubted 
if  she  were  one  of  these.  But  if  she  should  be, 
then  she  would  go  —  for  the  sake  of  Miss  Jose 
phine  St.  Michael,  she  declared.  In  short,  it  was 
perfectly  plain  that  Juno  was  much  afraid  of  being 
left  out,  and  that  wild  horses  could  not  drag  her 
away  from  it,  if  an  invitation  came  to  her.  But, 
as  I  say,  this  side  of  the  wedding  seemed  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it,  when  I  thought  of  all  that 
lay  beneath ;  my  one  interest  to-day  was  to  see 
John  Mayrant,  to  get  from  him,  if  not  by  some 
word,  then  by  some  look  or  intonation,  a  knowl 
edge  of  what  he  meant  to  do.  Therefore,  disap 
pointment  and  some  anxiety  met  me  when  I 
stepped  from  the  Hermanas  gangway  upon  her 
deck,  and  Charley  asked  me  if  he  was  coming. 
But  the  launch,  sent  back  to  wait,  finally  brought 
John,  apologizing  for  his  lateness. 

Meanwhile,  I  was  pleased  to  find  among  the 
otherwise  complete  party  General  Rieppe.  What 
I  had  seen  of  him  from  a  distance  held  promise, 
and  the  hero's  nearer  self  fulfilled  it.  We  fell  to 
each  other's  lot  for  the  most  natural  of  reasons : 
nobody  else  desired  the  company  of  either  of  us. 
Charley  was  making  himself  the  devoted  servant 
of  Hortense,  while  Kitty  drew  Beverly,  Bohm,  and 
Gazza  in  her  sprightly  wake.  To  her,  indeed,  I 
made  a  few  compliments  during  the  first  few 


360  LADY   BALTIMORE 

minutes  after  my  coming  aboard,  while  every  sort 
of  drink  and  cigar  was  being  circulated  among  us 
by  the  cabin  boy.  Kitty's  costume  was  the  most 
markedly  maritime  thing  that  I  have  ever  beheld 
in  any  waters,  and  her  white  shoes  looked  (I  must 
confess)  supremely  well  on  her  pretty  little  feet. 
I  am  no  advocate  of  sumptuary  laws ;  but  there 
should  be  one  prohibiting  big-footed  women  from 
wearing  white  shoes.  Did  these  women  know 
what  a  spatulated  effect  their  feet  so  shod  pro 
duce,  no  law  would  be  needed.  Yes,  Kitty  was 
superlatively,  stridently  maritime ;  you  could  have 
known  from  a  great  distance  that  she  belonged  to 
the  very  latest  steam  yacht  class,  and  that  she 
was  perfectly  ignorant  of  the  whole  subject.  On 
her  left  arm,  for  instance,  was  worked  a  red  pro 
peller  with  one  blade  down,  and  two  chevrons. 
It  was  the  rating  mark  for  a  chief  engineer,  but 
this,  had  she  known  it,  would  not  have  disturbed 
her. 

"  I  chose  it,"  she  told  me  in  reply  to  my  admira 
tion  of  it,  "  because  it's  so  pretty.  Oh,  won't  we 
enjoy  ourselves  while  those  stupid  old  blue-bloods 
in  Kings  Port  are  going  to  church!"  And  with 
this  she  gave  a  skip,  and  ordered  the  cabin  boy  to 
bring  her  a  Remsen  cooler.  Beverly  Rodgers 
called  for  dwarf's  blood,  and  I  chose  a  horse's 
neck,  and  soon  found  myself  in  the  society  of  the 
General. 

He  was  sipping  whiskey  and  plain  water.  "  I 
am  a  rough  soldier,  sir,"  he  explained  to  me, 
"  and  I  keep  to  the  simple  beverage  of  the  camp. 
Had  we  not  *  rather  bear  those  ills  we  have  than 
fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of  '  ?  "  And  he 


HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT        361 

waved  a  stately  hand  at  my  horse's  neck.  "  You 
are  acquainted  with  the  works  of  Shakespeare  ?  " 

I  replied  that  I  had  a  moderate  knowledge  of 
them,  and  assured  him  that  a  horse's  neck  was 
very  simple. 

"  Doubtless,  sir ;  but  a  veteran  is  ever  old- 
fashioned." 

"  Papa,"  said  Hortense,  "  don't  let  the  sun  shine 
upon  your  head." 

"Thank  you,  daughter  mine."  They  said  no 
more;  but  I  presently  felt  that  for  some  reason 
she  watched  him. 

He  moved  farther  beneath  the  awning,  and  I 
followed  him.  "  Are  you  a  father,  sir  ?  No  ? 
Then  you  cannot  appreciate  what  it  is  to  confide 
such  a  jewel  as  yon  girl  to  another's  keeping."  He 
summoned  the  cabin  boy,  who  brought  him  some 
more  of  the  simple  beverage  of  the  camp,  and  I,  feel 
ing  myself  scarce  at  liberty  to  speak  on  matters  so 
near  to  him  and  so  far  from  me  as  his  daughter's 
marriage,  called  his  attention  to  the  beautiful  aspect 
of  Kings  Port,  spread  out  before  us  in  a  long 
white  line  against  the  blue  water. 

The  General  immediately  seized  his  opportu 
nity.  " '  Sweet  Auburn,  loveliest  village  of  the 
plain ! '  You  are  acquainted  with  the  works  of 
Goldsmith,  sir  ? " 

I  professed  some  knowledge  of  this  author 
also,  and  the  General's  talk  flowed  ornately  on 
ward.  Though  I  had  little  to  say  to  him  about 
his  daughter's  marriage,  he  had  much  to  say  to 
me.  Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael  would  have 
been  gratified  to  hear  that  her  family  was  con 
sidered  suitable  for  Hortense  to  contract  an 


362  LADY   BALTIMORE 

alliance  with.  "  My  girl  is  not  stepping  down, 
sir,"  the  father  assured  me ;  and  he  commended 
the  St.  Michaels  and  the  whole  connection.  He 
next  alluded  tragically  but  vaguely  to  misfortunes 
which  had  totally  deprived  him  of  income.  I 
could  not  precisely  fix  what  his  inheritance  had 
been ;  sometimes  he  spoke  of  cotton,  but  next  it 
would  be  rice,  and  he  touched  upon  sugar  more 
than  once  ;  but,  whatever  it  was,  it  had  been  vast 
and  was  gone.  He  told  me  that  I  could  not  im 
agine  the  feelings  of  a  father  who  possessed  a 
jewel  and  no  dowry  to  give  her.  "  A  queen's 
estate  should  have  been  hers,"  he  said.  "  But 
what !  '  Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash.' ' 
And  he  sat  up,  nobly  braced  by  the  philosophic 
thought.  But  he  soon  was  shaking  his  head  over 
his  enfeebled  health.  Was  I  aware  that  he  had 
been  the  cause  of  postponing  the  young  people's 
joy  twice  ?  Twice  had  the  doctors  forbidden  him 
to  risk  the  emotions  that  would  attend  his  giving 
his  jewel  away.  He  dwelt  upon  his  shattered 
system  to  me,  and,  indeed,  it  required  some  dwell 
ing  on,  for  he  was  the  picture  of  admirable  pres 
ervation.  "  But  I  know  what  it  is  myself,"  he 
declared,  "  to  be  a  lover  and  have  bliss  delayed. 
They  shall  be  united  now.  A  soldier  must  face 
all  arrows.  What !  " 

I  had  hoped  he  might  quote  something  here, 
but  was  disappointed.  His  conversation  would 
soon  cease  to  interest  me,  should  I  lose  the  ex 
citement  of  watching  for  the  next  classic ;  and  my 
eye  wandered  from  the  General  to  the  water, 
where,  happily,  I  saw  John  Mayrant  coming  in 
the  launch.  I  briskly  called  the  General's  atten- 


.     HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT        363 

tion  to  him,  and  was  delighted  with  the  unex 
pected  result. 

" '  Oh,  young  Lochinvar  has  come  out  of  the 
West,'  "  said  the  General,  lifting  his  glass. 

I  touched  it  ceremoniously  with  mine.  "  The 
day  will  be  hot,"  I  said  ;  "  *  The  boy  stood  on  the 
burning  deck.' " 

On  this  I  made  my  escape  from  him,  and,  leav 
ing  him  to  his  whiskey  and  his  contemplating,  I 
became  aware  that  the  eyes  of  the  rest  of  the 
party  were  eager  to  watch  the  greeting  between 
Hortense  and  John.  But  there  was  nothing  to 
see.  Hortense  waited  until  her  lover  had  made 
his  apologies  to  Charley  for  being  late,  and,  from 
the  way  they  met,  she  might  have  been  no  more 
to  him  than  Kitty  was.  Whatever  might  be 
thought,  whatever  might  be  known,  by  these 
onlookers,  Hortense  set  the  pace  of  how  the 
open  secret  was  to  be  taken.  She  made  it,  for 
all  of  us,  as  smooth  and  smiling  as  the  waters  of 
Kings  Port  were  this  fine  day.  How  much  did 
they  each  know  ?  I  asked  myself  how  much  they 
had  shared  in  common.  To  these  Replacers 
Kings  Port  had  opened  no  doors ;  they  and  their 
automobile  had  skirted  around  the  outside  of  all 
things.  And  if  Charley  knew  about  the  wedding, 
he  also  knew  that  it  had  been  already  twice  post 
poned.  He,  too,  could  have  said,  as  Miss  Eliza 
had  once  said  to  me,  "  The  cake  is  not  baked  yet." 
The  General's  talk  to  me  (I  felt  as  I  took  in  how 
his  health  had  been  the  centred  point)  was  prob 
ably  the  result  of  previous  arrangements  with 
Hortense  herself;  and  she  quite  as  certainly  in 
spired  whatever  she  allowed  him  to  say  to  Charley. 


364  LADY   BALTIMORE 

As  for  Kitty,  she  knew  that  her  brother  was 
"  set "  ;  she  always  came  back  to  that. 

If  Hortense  found  this  Sunday  morning  a  pas 
sage  of  particularly  delicate  steering,  she  showed 
it  in  no  way,  unless  by  that  heightened  radiance 
and  triumph  of  beauty  which  I  had  seen  in  her 
before.  No;  the  splendor  of  the  day,  the  luxu 
ries  of  the  Hermana,  the  conviviality  of  the 
Replacers  —  all  melted  the  occasion  down  to  an 
ease  and  enjoyment  in  which  even  John  Mayrant, 
with  his  grave  face,  was  not  perceptible,  unless, 
like  myself,  one  watched  him. 

It  was  my  full  expectation  that  we  should  now 
get  under  way  and  proceed  among  the  various 
historic  sights  of  Kings  Port  harbor,  but  of  this 
I  saw  no  signs  anywhere  on  board  the  Hermana. 
Abeam  of  the  foremast  her  boat  booms  remained 
rigged  out  on  port  and  starboard,  her  boats  riding 
to  painters,  while  her  crew  wore  a  look  as  gen 
erally  lounging  as  that  of  her  passengers.  Beverly 
Rodgers  told  me  the  reason  :  we  had  no  pilot; 
the  negro  waterman  engaged  for  this  excursion 
in  the  upper  waters  had  failed  of  appearance,  and 
when  Charley  was  for  looking  up  another,  Kitty, 
Bohm,  and  Gazza  had  dissuaded  him. 

"  Kitty,"  said  Beverly,  "  told  me  she  didn't  care 
about  the  musty  old  forts  and  things,  anyhow." 

I  looked  at  Kitty,  and  heard  her  tongue  ticking 
away,  like  the  little  clock  she  was ;  she  had  her 
Bohm,  she  had  her  nautical  costume  and  her 
Remsen  cooler.  These,  with  the  lunch  that 
would  come  in  time,  were  enough  for  her. 

"  But  it  was  such  a  good  chance !  "  I  exclaimed 
in  disappointment. 


HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT        365 

"  Chance  for  what,  old  man  ? " 

"  To  see  everything  —  the  forts,  the  islands  — 
and  it's  beautiful,  you  know,  all  the  way  to  the 
navy  yard." 

Beverly  followed  my  glance  to  where  the  gay 
company  was  sitting  among  the  cracked  ice,  and 
bottles,  and  cigar  boxes,  chattering  volubly,  with 
its  back  to  the  scenery.  He  gave  his  laisser-faire 
chuckle,  and  laid  a  hand  on  my  shoulder.  "  Don't 
worry  'em  with  forts  and  islands,  old  boy !  They 
know  what  they  want.  No  living  breed  on  earth 
knows  better  what  it  wants." 

"  Well,  they  don't  get  it." 

"Ho,  don't  they?" 

"  The  cold  fear  of  ennui  gnaws  at  their  vitals 
this  minute." 

Shrill  laughter  from  Kitty  and  Gazza  served  to 
refute  my  theory. 

"  Of  course,  very  few  know  what's  the  matter 
with  them,"  I  added.  "  You  seldom  spot  an 
organic  disease  at  the  start." 

"  Hm,"  said  Beverly,  lengthily.  "  You  put  a 
pin  through  some  of  'em.  Hortense  hasn't  got 
the  disease,  though." 

"  Ah,  she  spotted  it !  She's  taking  treatment. 
It's  likely  to  help  her  —  for  a  time." 

He  looked  at  me.     "  You  know  something  ?  " 

I  nodded.  He  looked  at  Hortense,  who  was 
now  seated  among  the  noisy  group  with  quiet 
John  beside  her.  She  was  talking  to  Bohm,  she 
had  no  air  of  any  special  relation  to  John,  but 
there  was  a  lustre  about  her  that  spoke  well  for 
the  treatment. 

"  Then  it's  coming  off  ?  "  said  Beverly. 


366  LADY   BALTIMORE 

"  She  has  been  too  much  for  him,"  I  answered. 

Beverly  misunderstood.      "  He  doesn't  look  it." 

"  That's  what  I  mean." 

"  But  the  fool  can  cut  loose ! " 

"  Oh,  you  and  I  have  gone  over  all  that !  I've 
even  gone  over  it  with  him." 

Beverly  looked  at  Hortense  again.  "  And  her 
fire-eater's  fortune  is  about  double  what  it  would 
have  been.  I  don't  see  how  she's  going  to  square 
herself  with  Charley." 

"  She'll  wait  till  that's  necessary.  It  isn't  neces 
sary  to-day." 

We  had  to  drop  our  subject  here,  for  the  owner 
of  the  Hermana  approached  us  with  the  amiable 
purpose,  I  found,  of  making  himself  civil  for  a 
while  to  me. 

"  I  think  you  would  have  been  interested  to  see 
the  navy  yard,"  I  said  to  him. 

"  I  have  seen  it,"  Charley  replied,  in  his  slightly 
foreign,  careful  voice.  "  It  is  not  a  navy  yard. 
It  is  small  politics  and  a  big  swamp.  I  was  not 
interested." 

"  Dear  me !  "  I  cried.  "  But  surely  it's  going 
to  be  very  fine !  " 

"  Another  gold  brick  sold  to  Uncle  Sam." 
Charley's  words  seemed  always  to  drop  out  like 
little  accurately  measured  coins  from  some  mint 
ing  machine.  "  They  should  not  have  changed 
from  the  old  place  if  they  wanted  a  harbor  that 
could  be  used  in  war-time.  Here  they  must  al 
ways  keep  at  least  one  dredge  going  out  at  the 
jetties.  So  the  enemy  blows  up  your  dredge  and 
you  are  bottled  in,  or  bottled  out.  It  is  very  sim 
ple  for  the  enemy.  And,  for  Kings  Port,  navy 


HORTENSE'S  CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT        367 

yards  do  not  galvanize  dead  trade.  It  was  a 
gold  brick.  You  have  not  been  on  the  Hermana 
before  ?  " 

He  knew  that  I  had  not,  but  he  wished  to  show 
her  to  me ;  and  I  soon  noted  a  difference  as  radi 
cal  as  it  was  diverting  between  this  banker-yachts 
man's  speech  when  he  talked  of  affairs  on  land  and 
when  he  attempted  to  deal  with  nautical  matters. 
The  clear,  dispassionate  finality  of  his  tone  when 
phosphates,  or  railroads,  or  navy  yards,  or  imperial 
loans  were  concerned,  left  him,  and  changed  to 
something  very  like  a  recitation  of  trigonometry 
well  memorized  but  not  at  all  mastered ;  he  could 
do  that  particular  sum,  but  you  mustn't  stop  him ; 
and  I  concluded  that  I  would  rather  have  Charley 
for  my  captain  during  a  panic  in  Wall  Street  than 
in  a  hurricane  at  sea.  He,  too,  wore  highly  pro 
nounced  sea  clothes  of  the  ornamental  kind ;  and 
though  they  fitted  him  physically,  they  hung  bag- 
gily  upon  his  unmarine  spirit ;  giving  him  the  air, 
as  it  were,  of  a  broiled  quail  served  on  oyster  shells. 
Beverly  Rodgers,  the  consummate  Beverly,  was  the 
only  man  of  us  whose  clothes  seemed  to  belong  to 
him ;  he  looked  as  if  he  could  sail  a  boat. 

While  the  cabin  boy  continued  to  rush  among 
the  guests  with  siphons,  ice,  and  fresh  refresh 
ments,  Charley  became  the  Hermanas  guide 
book  for  me  ;  and  our  interview  gave  me,  I  may 
say,  entertainment  unalloyed,  although  there  lay 
all  the  while,  beneath  the  entertainment,  my  sad 
ness  and  concern  about  John.  Charley  was  owner 
of  the  Hermana,  there  was  no  doubt  of  that ;  she 
had  cost  him  (it  was  not  long  before  he  told  me) 
fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  to  run  her  it  cost  him 


368  LADY   BALTIMORE. 

a  thousand  a  month.  Yes,  he  was  her  owner,  but 
there  it  stopped,  no  matter  with  how  solemn  a 
face  he  inspected  each  part  of  her,  or  spoke  of  her 
details ;  he  was  as  much  a  passenger  on  her  as 
myself;  and  this  was  as  plain  on  the  equally 
solemn  faces  of  his  crew,  from  the  sailing-master 
down  through  the  two  quartermasters  to  the  five 
deck-hands,  as  was  the  color  of  the  Hermanas 
stack,  which  was,  of  course,  yellow.  She  was  a 
pole-mast,  schooner-rigged  steam  yacht,  Charley 
accurately  told  me,  with  clipper  bow  and  spiked 
bowsprit. 

"  About  a  hundred  tons  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Yes.  A  hundred  feet  long,  beam  twenty  feet, 
and  she  draws  twelve  feet,"  said  Charley ;  and  I 
thought  I  detected  the  mate  listening  to  him. 

He  now  called  my  attention  to  the  flags,  and  I 
am  certain  that  I  saw  the  sailing-master  hide  his 
mouth  with  his  hand.  Some  of  the  deck-hands 
seemed  to  gather  delicately  nearer  to  us. 

"  Sunday,  of  course,"  I  said ;  and  I  pointed  to 
the  Jack  flying  from  a  staff  at  the  bow. 

But  Charley  did  not  wish  me  to  tell  him  about 
the  flags,  he  wished  to  tell  me  about  the  flags. 
"  I  am  very  strict  about  all  this,"  he  said,  his 
gravity  and  nauticality  increasing  with  every 
word.  "At  the  fore  truck  flies  our  club  burgee." 

I  went  through  my  part,  giving  a  solemn,  silent, 
intelligent  assent. 

"  That  is  my  private  signal  at  the  main  truck. 
It  was  designed  by  Miss  Rieppe." 

As  I  again  intelligently  nodded,  I  saw  the 
boatswain  move  an  elbow  into  the  ribs  of  one  of 
the  quartermasters. 


HORTENSE'S  CIGARETTE   GOES  OUT        369 

"  On  the  staff  at  the  taffrail  I  have  the  United 
States  yacht  ensign,"  Charley  continued.  "  That's 
all,"  he  said,  looking  about  for  more  flags,  and  (to 
his  disappointment,  I  think)  finding  no  more. 
For  he  added :  "  But  at  twelve  o'c  —  at  eight 
bells,  the  crew's  meal-flag  will  be  in  the  port  fore 
rigging.  While  we  are  at  lunch,  my  meal-flag 
will  be  in  the  starboard  main  rigging." 

"  It  should  be  there  all  day,"  I  was  tempted  to 
remark  to  him,  as  my  wandering  eye  fell  on  the 
cabin  boy  carrying  something  more  on  a  plate  to 
Kitty.  But  instead  of  this  I  said :  "  Well,  she's  a 
beautiful  boat ! " 

Charley  shook  his  head.  "  Fm  going  to  get  rid 
of  her." 

I  was  surprised.  "Isn't  she  all  right?"  It 
seemed  to  me  that  the  crew  behind  us  were  very 
attentive  now. 

"  There  is  not  enough  refrigerator  space,"  said 
Charley.  One  of  the  deck-hands  whirled  round 
instantly  ;  but  stolidity  sat  like  adamant  upon  the 
faces  of  the  others  as  Charley  turned  in  their 
direction,  and  we  continued  our  tour  of  the  Her- 
mana.  Thus  the  little  banker  let  me  see  his  little 
soul,  deep  down ;  and  there  I  saw  that  to  pass  for 
a  real  yachtsman  — which  he  would  never  be  able 
to  do  —  was  dearer  to  his  pride  than  to  bring  off 
successfully  some  huge  and  delicate  matter  in  the 
world's  finance  —  which  he  could  always  do  su 
premely  well.  "  I'm  just  like  that,  too,"  I  thought 
to  myself ;  and  we  returned  to  the  gay  Kitty. 

But  Kitty,  despite  her  gayety,  had  serious 
thoughts  upon  her  mind.  Charley's  attentions  to 
me  had  met  all  that  politeness  required,  and  as 

2B 


370  LADY   BALTIMORE 

we  went  aft  again,  his  sister  caused  certain  move 
ments  and  rearrangements  to  happen  with  chairs 
and  people.  I  didn't  know  this  at  once,  but  I 
knew  it  when  I  found  myself  somehow  sitting 
with  her  and  John,  and  saw  Hortense  with 
Charley.  Hortense  looked  over  at  Kitty  with  a 
something  that  had  in  it  both  raised  eyebrows 
and  a  shrug,  though  these  visible  signs  did  not 
occur;  and,  indeed,  so  far  as  anything  visible 
went  (except  the  look)  you  might  have  supposed 
that  now  Hortense  had  no  thoughts  for  any  man 
in  the  world  save  Charley.  And  John  was  plainly 
more  at  ease  with  Kitty !  He  began  to  make 
himself  agreeable,  so  that  once  or  twice  she  gave 
him  a  glance  of  surprise.  There  was  nothing  to 
mark  him  out  from  the  others,  except  his 
paleness  in  the  midst  of  their  redness.  Yachting 
clothes  bring  out  wonderfully  how  much  you  are 
in  the  habit  of  eating  and  drinking ;  and  an  in 
nocent  stranger  might  have  supposed  that  the 
Replacers  were  richly  sunburned  from  exposure 
to  the  blazing  waters  of  Cuba  and  the  tropics. 
Kitty  deemed  it  suitable  to  extol  Kings  Port  to 
John.  "  Quaint  "  was  the  word  that  did  most  of 
this  work  for  her;  she  found  everything  that, 
even  the  negroes;  and  when  she  had  come  to  the 
end  of  it,  she  supposed  the  inside  must  be  just  as 
"  quaint  "  as  the  outside. 

"  It  is,"  said  John  Mayrant.  He  was  enjoying 
Kitty.  Then  he  became  impertinent.  "  You 
ought  to  see  it." 

"  Do  you  stay  inside  much  ?  "  said  Kitty. 

"  We  all  do,"  said  John.  "  Some  of  us  never 
come  out." 


HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT        371 

"  But  you  came  out  ? "  Kitty  suggested. 

"  Oh,  I've  been  out,"  John  returned.  He  was 
getting  older.  I  doubt  if  the  past  few  years  of 
his  life  had  matured  him  as  much  as  had  the  past 
few  days.  Then  he  looked  at  Kitty  in  the  eyes. 
"And  I'd  always  come  out — if  Romance  rang 
the  bell." 

"  Hm !  "  said  Kitty.  "  Then  you  know  that 
ring  ?  " 

"  We  begin  to  hear  it  early  in  Kings  Port,"  re 
marked  John.  "  About  the  age  of  fourteen." 

Kitty  looked  at  him  with  an  interest  that  now 
plainly  revealed  curiosity  also.  It  occurred  to  me 
that  he  could  not  have  found  any  great  embar 
rassment  in  getting  on  at  Newport.  "  What  if  I 
rang  the  bell  myself  ?  "  explained  Kitty. 

"  Come  in  the  evening,"  returned  John.  "  We 
won't  go  home  till  morning." 

Kitty  kissed  her  hand  to  him,  and,  during  the 
pleased  giggle  that  she  gave,  I  saw  her  first  tak 
ing  in  John  and  then  Hortense.  Kitty  was  think 
ing,  thinking,  of  John's  "  crudity."  And  so  I  made 
a  little  experiment  for  myself. 

"  I  wonder  if  men  seem  as  similar  in  making 
love  as  women  do  in  receiving  it  ? " 

"  They  aren't ! "  shouted  both  John  and  Kitty, 
in  the  same  indignant  breath.  Their  noise 
brought  Bohm  to  listen  to  us. 

This  experiment  was  so  much  a  success  that  I 
promptly  made  another  for  the  special  benefit  of 
Bohm,  Kitty's  next  husband.  I  find  it  often  de 
lightful  to  make  a  little  gratuitous  mischief,  just 
to  watch  the  victims.  I  addressed  Kitty.  "  What 
would  you  do  if  a  man  said  he  could  drown  in 


372  LADY   BALTIMORE 

your  hair  as  joyfully  as  the  Duke  of  Clarence  did 
in  his  butt  of  Malmsey?" 

«  Why—  why  —  "  gasped  Kitty,  "  why— why  — " 

I  suppose  it  gave  John  time;  but  even  so  he 
was  splendid. 

"  She  has  heard  it  said  !  "  This  was  his  trium 
phant  shout.  I  should  not  have  supposed  that 
Kitty  could  have  turned  any  redder,  but  she  did. 
John  buried  his  nose  in  his  tall  glass,  and  gulped 
a  choking  quantity  of  its  contents,  and  mopped 
his  face  profusely;  but  little  good  that  effected. 
There  sat  this  altogether  innocent  pair,  deeply 
suffused  with  the  crimson  of  apparent  guilt,  and 
there  stood  Kitty's  next  husband,  eying  them 
suspiciously.  My  little  gratuitous  mischief  was 
a  perfect  success,  and  remains  with  me  as  one  of 
the  bright  spots  in  this  day  of  pleasure. 

Vivacious  measures  from  the  piano  brought 
Kitty  to  her  feet. 

"  There's  Gazza ! "  she  cried.  "  We'll  make  him 
sing  !  "  And  on  the  instant  she  was  gone  down 
the  companionway.  Bohm  followed  her  with  a 
less  agitated  speed,  and  soon  all  were  gone  below, 
leaving  John  and  me  alone  on  the  deck,  sitting 
together  in  silence. 

John  lolled  back  in  his  chair,  slowly  sipping  at 
his  tall  glass,  and  neither  of  us  made  any  remark. 
I  think  he  wanted  to  ask  me  how  I  came  to  men 
tion  the  Duke  of  Clarence ;  but  I  did  not  see 
how  he  very  well  could,  and  he  certainly  made 
'no  attempt  to  do  so.  Thus  did  we  sit  for  some 
time,  hearing  the  piano  and  the  company  grow 
livelier  and  louder  with  solos,  and  choruses,  and 
laughter.  By  and  by  the  shadow  of  the  awning 


HORTENSE'S  CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT         373 

shifted,  causing  me  to  look  up,  when  I  saw  the 
shores  slowly  changing ;  the  tide  had  turned,  and 
was  beginning  to  run  out.  Land  and  water  lay 
in  immense  peace  ;  the  long,  white,  silent  picture  of 
the  town  with  its  steeples  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  the  long,  low  shore,  and  the  trees  behind. 
Into  this  rose  the  high  voice  of  Gazza,  singing 
in  broken  English,  "  Razzla-dazzla,  razzla-dazzla," 
while  his  hearers  beat  upon  glasses  with  spoons  — 
at  least  so  I  conjectured. 

"  Aren't  you  coming,  John  ?  "  asked  Hortense, 
appearing  at  the  companionway.  She  looked 
very  bacchanalian.  Her  splendid  amber  hair  was 
half  riotous,  and  I  was  reminded  of  the  toboggan 
fire-escape. 

He  obeyed  her ;  and  now  I  had  the  deck  entirely 
to  myself,  or,  rather,  but  one  other  and  distant 
person  shared  it  with  me.  The  hour  had  come, 
the  bells  had  struck ;  Charley's  crew  was  eating 
its  dinner  below  forward ;  Charley's  guests  were 
drinking  their  liquor  below  aft ;  Charley's  correct 
meal-flag  was  to  be  seen  in  the  port  fore  rigging, 
as  he  had  said,  red  and  triangular;  and  away  off 
from  me  in  the  bow  was  the  anchor  watch,  whom 
I  dreamily  watched  trying  to  light  his  pipe.  His 
matches  seemed  to  be  bad;  and  the  brotherly 
thought  of  helping  him  drifted  into  my  mind  — 
and  comfortably  out  of  it  again,  without  disturbing 
my  agreeable  repose.  It  had  been  really  enter 
taining  in  John  to  tell  Kitty  that  she  ought  to  see 
the  inside  of  Kings  Port ;  that  was  like  his  en 
gaging  impishness  with  Juno.  If  by  any  possible 
contrivance  (and  none  was  possible)  Kitty  and  her 
Replacers  could  have  met  the  inside  of  Kings 


374  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Port,  Kitty  would  have  added  one  more  "  quaint " 
impression  to  her  stock,  and  gone  away  in  total 
ignorance  of  the  quality  of  the  impression  she  had 
made  —  and  Bohm  would  probably  have  again 
remarked,  "  Worse  than  Sunday."  No ;  the  St. 
Michaels  and  the  Replacers  would  never  meet  in 
this  world,  and  I  see  no  reason  that  they  should 
in  the  next.  John's  light  and  pleasing  skirmish 
with  Kitty  gave  me  the  glimpse  of  his  capacities 
which  I  had  lacked  hitherto.  John  evidently 
"knew  his  way  about,"  as  they  say;  and  I  was 
diverted  to  think  how  Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael 
would  have  nodded  over  his  adequacy  and  shaken 
her  head  at  his  squandering  it  on  such  a  compan 
ion.  But  it  was  no  squandering ;  the  boy's  heavy 
spirit  was  making  a  gallant  "  bluff  "  at  playing  up 
with  the  lively  party  he  had  no  choice  but  to  join, 
and  this  one  saw  the  moment  he  was  not  called 
upon  to  play  up. 

The  peaceful  loveliness  that  floated  from  earth 
and  water  around  me  triumphed  over  the  jangling 
hilarity  of  the  cabin,  and  I  dozed  away,  aware 
that  they  were  now  all  thumping  furiously  in 
chorus,  while  Gazza  sang  something  that  went, 
"  Oh,  she's  my  leetle  preety  poosee  pet."  When 
I  roused,  it  was  Kitty's  voice  at  the  piano,  but  no 
change  in  the  quality  of  the  song  or  the  thumping ; 
and  Hortense  was  stepping  on  deck.  She  had  a 
cigarette,  her  beauty  flashed  with  devilment,  and 
John  followed  her.  "  They  are  going  to  have  an 
explanation,"  I  thought,  as  I  saw  his  face.  If  that 
were  so,  then  Kitty  had  blundered  in  her  strategy 
and  hurt  Charley's  cause ;  for  after  the  two  came 
Gazza,  as  obviously  "sent"  as  any  emissary  ever 


HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT         375 

looked :  Kitty  took  care  of  the  singing,  while 
Gazza  intercepted  any  tete-a-tete.  I  rose  and  made 
a  fourth  with  them,  and  even  as  I  was  drawing 
near,  the  devilment  in  Hortense's  face  sank  inward 
beneath  cold  displeasure. 

I  had  never  been  a  welcome  person  to  Hortense, 
and  she  made  as  little  effort  to  conceal  this  as 
usual.  Her  indifferent  eyes  glanced  at  me  with 
drowsy  insolence,  and  she  made  her  beautiful, 
low  voice  as  remote  and  inattentive  as  her  skilful 
social  equipment  could  render  it. 

"  It  is  so  hot  in  the  cabin." 

This  was  all  she  had  for  me.  Then  she  looked 
at  Gazza  with  returning  animation. 

"  Oh,  la  la  !  "  said  Gazza.  "  If  it  is  hot  in  the 
cabin  ! "  And  he  flirted  his  handkerchief  back 
and  forth. 

"  I  think  I  had  the  best  of  it,"  I  remarked. 
"  All  the  melody  and  none  of  the  temperature." 

Hortense  saw  no  need  of  noticing  me  further. 

"  The  singer  has  the  worst  of  it,"  said  Gazza. 

"  But  since  you  all  sang !  "   I  laughed. 

"  Miss  Rieppe,  she  is  cool,"  continued  Gazza. 
"  And  she  danced.  It  is  not  fair." 

John  contributed  nothing.  He  was  by  no 
means  playing  up  now.  He  was  looking  away  at 
the  shore. 

Gazza  hummed  a  little  fragment.  "  But  after 
lunch  I  will  sing  you  good  music." 

"  So  long  as  it  keeps  us  cool,"  I  suggested. 

"  Ah,  no  !  It  will  not  be  cool  music !  "  cried 
Gazza  —  "for  those  who  understand." 

"  Are  those  boys  bathing  ? "  Hortense  now 
inquired. 


376  LADY   BALTIMORE 

We  watched  the  distant  figures,  and  presently 
they  flashed  into  the  water. 

"  Oh,  me  !  "  sighed  Gazza.     "  If  I  were  a  boy !  " 

Hortense  looked  at  him.  "  You  would  be 
afraid."  The  devilment  had  come  out  again, 
suddenly  and  brilliantly. 

"  I  never  have  been  afraid !  "  declared  Gazza. 

"  You  would  not  jump  in  after  me,"  said  Hor 
tense,  taking  his  measure  more  and  more  pro- 
vokingly. 

Gazza  laid  his  hand  on  his  heart.  "Where  you 
go,  I  will  go  !  " 

Hortense  looked  at  him,  and  laughed  very 
slightly  and  lightly. 

"  I  swear  it !     I  swear !  "  protested  Gazza. 

John's  eyes  were  now  fixed  upon  Hortense. 

"  Would  you  go  ?  "  she  asked  him. 

"  Decidedly  not !  "  he  returned.  I  don't  know 
whether  he  was  angry  or  anxious. 

"Oh,  yes,  you  would  !  "  said  Hortense  ;  and  she 
jumped  into  the  water,  cigarette  and  all. 

"  Get  a  boat,  quick,"  said  John  to  me  ;  and  with 
his  coat  flung  oft  he  was  in  the  river,  whose  cur 
rent  Hortense  could  scarce  have  reckoned  with; 
for  they  were  both  already  astern  as  I  ran  out  on 
the  port  boat  boom. 

Gazza  was  dancing  and  shrieking,  "  Man  over 
board  !  "  which,  indeed,  was  the  correct  expression, 
only  it  did  not  apply  to  himself.  Gazza  was  a 
very  sensible  person.  I  had,  as  I  dropped  into  the 
nearest  boat,  a  brisk  sight  of  the  sailing-master, 
springing  like  a  jack-in-the-box  on  the  deserted 
deck,  with  a  roar  of  "  Where's  that  haymaker?" 
His  reference  was  to  the  anchor  watch.  The 


Oh,  yes,  you  would!'  said  Hortense  " 


HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT        379 

temptation  to  procure  good  matches  to  light  his 
pipe  had  ended  (I  learned  later)  by  proving  too 
much  for  this  responsible  sailor-man,  and  he  had 
unfortunately  chosen  for  going  below  just  the 
unexpected  moment  when  it  had  entered  the  dar 
ing  head  of  Hortense  to  perform  this  extravagance. 
Of  course,  before  I  had  pulled  many  strokes,  the 
deck  of  the  Hermana  was  alive  with  many  mani 
festations  of  life-saving  and  they  had  most  likely 
been  in  time.  But  I  am  not  perfectly  sure  of  this ; 
the  current  was  strong,  and  a  surprising  distance 
seemed  to  broaden  between  me  and  the  Hermana 
before  another  boat  came  into  sight  around  her 
stern.  By  then,  or  just  after  that  (for  I  cannot 
clearly  remember  the  details  of  these  few  anxious 
minutes),  I  had  caught  up  with  John,  whose  face, 
and  total  silence,  as  he  gripped  the  stern  of  the 
boat  with  one  hand  and  held  Hortense  with  the 
other,  plainly  betrayed  it  was  high  time  somebody 
came.  A  man  can  swim  (especially  in  salt  water) 
with  his  shoes  on,  and  his  clothes  add  nothing 
of  embarrassment,  if  his  arms  are  free;  but  a 
woman's  clothes  do  not  help  either  his  buoyancy 
or  the  freedom  of  his  movement.  John  now  lifted 
Hortense's  two -hands,  which  took  a  good  hold  of 
the  boat.  From  between  her  lips  the  dishevelled 
cigarette,  bitten  through  and  limp,  fell  into  the 
water.  The  boat  felt  the  weight  of  the  two  hands 
to  it. 

"  Take  care,"  I  warned  John. 

Hortense  opened  her  eyes  and  looked  at  me ; 
she  knew  that  I  meant  her.  "  I'll  not  swamp 
you."  This  was  her  first  remark.  Her  next  was 
when,  after  no  incautious  haste,  I  had  hauled  her 


380  LADY   BALTIMORE 

in  over  the  stern,  John  working  round  to  the  bow 
for  the  sake  of  balance :  "  I  was  not  dressed  for 
swimming."  Very  quietly  did  Hortense  speak; 
very  coolly,  very  evenly  ;  no  fainting  —  and  no 
flippancy ;  she  was  too  game  for  either. 

After  this,  whatever  emotions  she  had  felt,  or 
was  feeling,  she  showed  none  of  them,  unless  it 
was  by  her  complete  silence.  John's  coming  into 
the  boat  we  managed  with  sufficient  dexterity; 
aided  by  the  horrified  Charley,  who  now  arrived 
personally  in  the  other  boat,  and  was  for  taking 
all  three  of  us  into  that.  But  this  was  altogether 
unnecessary ;  he  was  made  to  understand  that 
such  transferences  as  it  would  occasion  were  super 
fluous,  and  so  one  of  his  men  stepped  into  our 
boat  to  help  me  to  row  back  against  the  current ; 
and  for  this  I  was  not  unthankful. 

Our  return  took,  it  appeared  to  me,  a  much 
longer  time  than  everything  else  which  had  hap 
pened.  When  I  looked  over  my  shoulder  at  the 
Hermana,  she  seemed  an  incredible  distance  off, 
and  when  I  looked  again,  she  had  grown  so  very 
little  nearer  that  I  abandoned  this  fruitless  pro 
ceeding.  Charley's  boat  had  gone  ahead  to  an 
nounce  the  good  news  to  General  Rieppe  as  soon 
as  possible.  But  if  our  return  was  long  to  me,  to 
Hortense  it  was  not  so.  She  sat  beside  her  lover 
in  the  stern,  and  I  knew  that  he  was  more  to  her 
than  ever:  it  was  her  spirit  also  that  wanted  him 
now.  Poor  Kitty's  words  of  prophecy  had  come 
perversely  true:  "  Something  will  happen,  and  that 
boy '11  be  conspicuous."  Well,  it  had  happened 
with  a  vengeance,  and  all  wrong  for  Kitty,  and  all 
wrong  for  me!  Then  I  remembered  Charley,  last 


HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT         381 

of  all.  My  doubt  as  to  what  he  would  have  done, 
had  he  been  on  deck,  was  settled  later  by  learning 
from  his  own  lips  that  he  did  not  know  how  to 
swim. 

Yes,  the  sentimental  world  (and  by  that  I  mean 
the  immense  and  mournful  preponderance  of  fools, 
and  not  the  few  of  true  sentiment)  would  soon  be 
exclaiming:  "How  romantic!  She  found  her 
heart !  She  had  a  glimpse  of  Death's  angel,  and 
in  that  light  saw  her  life's  true  happiness!"  But  I 
should  say  nothing  like  that,  nor  would  Miss  Jose 
phine  St.  Michael,  if  I  read  that  lady  at  all  right. 
She  didn't  know  what  I  did  about  Hortense,  she 
hadn't  overheard  Sophistication  confessing  amo 
rous  curiosity  about  Innocence;  but  the  old  Kings 
Port  lady's  sound  instinct  would  tell  her  that  a 
souse  in  the  water  wasn't  likely  to  be  enough  to 
wash  away  the  seasoning  of  a  lifetime ;  and  she 
would  wait,  as  I  should,  for  the  day  when  Hor 
tense,  having  had  her  taste  of  John's  innocence, 
and  having  grown  used  to  the  souse  in  the  water, 
would  wax  restless  for  the  Replacers,  for  excite 
ment,  for  complexity,  for  the  prismatic  life.  Then 
it  might  interest  her  to  corrupt  John;  but  if  she 
couldn't,  where  would  her  occupation  be,  and  how 
were  they  going  to  pull  through  ? 

But  now,  there  sat  Hortense  in  the  stern,  melted 
into  whatever  best  she  was  capable  of;  it  had 
come  into  her  face,  her  face  was  to  be  read  —  for 
the  first  time  since  I  had  known  it  —  and, 
strangely  enough,  I  couldn't  read  John's  at  all. 
It  seemed  happy,  which  was  impossible. 

"  Way  enough  !  "  he  cried  suddenly,  and,  at  his 
command,  the  sailor  and  I  took  in  our  oars.  Here 


382  LADY   BALTIMORE 

was  the  Hermanas  gangway,  and  crowding  faces 
above,  and  ejaculations  and  tears  from  Kitty. 
Yes,  Hortense  would  have  liked  that  return 
voyage  to  last  longer.  I  was  first  on  the  gang 
way,  and  stood  to  wait  and  give  them  a  hand  out ; 
but  she  lingered,  and,  rising  slowly,  spoke  her  first 
word  to  him,  softly :  — 

"  And  so  I  owe  you  my  life." 

"  And  so  I  restore  it  to  you  complete,"  said 
John,  instantly. 

None  could  have  heard  it  but  myself  —  unless 
the  sailor,  beyond  whose  comprehension  it  was  — 
and  I  doubted  for  a  moment  if  I  could  have  heard 
right;  but  it  was  for  a  moment  only.  Hortense 
'stood  stiff,  and  then,  turning,  came  in  front  of 
him,  and  I  read  her  face  for  an  instant  longer, 
before  the  furious  hate  in  it  was  mastered  to  meet 
her  father's  embrace,  as  I  helped  her  up  the  gang 
way. 

"  Daughter  mine ! "  said  the  General,  with  a 
magnificent  break  in  his  voice. 

But  Hortense  was  game  to  the  end.  She  took 
Kitty's  hysterics  and  the  men's  various  grades 
of  congratulation ;  her  word  to  Gazza  would 
have  been  supreme,  but  for  his  imperishable  re 
joinder. 

"  I  told  you  you  wouldn't  jump,"  was  what  she 
said. 

Gazza  stretched  both  arms,  pointing  to  John. 
"  But  a  native  !  He  was  surer  to  find  you  !  " 

At  this  they  all  remembered  John,  whom  they 
thus  far  hadn't  thought  of. 

"  Where  is  that  lion-hearted  boy  ?  "  the  General 
called  out. 


HORTENSE'S   CIGARETTE   GOES   OUT         383 

John  hadn't  got  out  of  the  boat;  he  thought  he 
ought  to  change  his  clothes,  he  said ;  and  when 
Charley,  truly  astonished,  proffered  his  entire 
wardrobe  and  reminded  him  of  lunch,  it  was 
thank  you  very  much,  bul  if  he  couid  be  put 
ashore  —  I  looked  for  Hortense,  to  see  what  she 
would  do,  but  Hortense,  had  gone  below  with 
Kitty  to  change  her  clothes,  and  the  genuinely 
hearty  protestations  from  all  the  rest  brought 
merely  pleasantly  firm  politeness  from  John,  as  he 
put  on  again  the  coat  he  had  flung  off  on  jump 
ing.  At  least  he  would  take  a  drink,  urged 
Charley.  Yes,  thank  you,  he  would ;  and  he 
chose  brandy-and-soda,  of  which  he  poured  him 
self  a  remarkably  stiff  one.  Charley  and  I 
poured  ourselves  milder  ones,  for  the  sake  of 
company. 

"  Here's  how,"  said  Charley  to  John. 

"  Yes,  here's  how,"  I  added  more  emphatically. 

John  looked  at  Charley  with  a  somewhat  ex 
traordinary  smile.  "  Here's  unquestionably  how!  " 
he  exclaimed. 

We  had  a  gay  lunch  ;  I  should  have  supposed 
there  was  plenty  of  room  in  the  Hermanas  re 
frigerator  ;  nor  did  the  absence  of  Hortense  and 
John,  the  cause  of  our  jubilation,  at  all  interfere 
with  the  jubilation  itself;  by  the  time  the  launch 
was  ready  to  put  me  ashore,  Gazza  had  sung  sev 
eral  miles  of  "  good  music  "  and  double  that  quan 
tity  of  "  razzla-dazzla,"  and  General  Rieppe  was 
crying  copiously,  and  assuring  everybody  that 
God  was  very  good  to  him.  But  Kitty  had  told 
us  all  that  she  intended  Hortense  to  remain  quiet 
in  her  cabin  ;  and  she  kept  her  word. 


384  LADY   BALTIMORE 

Quite  suddenly,  as  the  launch  was  speeding 
me  toward  Kings  Port,  I  exclaimed  aloud :  "  The 
cake!" 

And,  I  thought,  the  cake  was  now  settled  for 
ever. 


XXII 

BEHIND    THE    TIMES 

TT  was  my  lot  to  attend  but  one  of  the  wed- 
dings  which  Hortense  precipitated  (or  at  least 
determined)  by  her  plunge  into  the  water ;  and, 
truth  to  say,  the  honor  of  my  presence  at  the  other 
was  not  requested  ;  therefore  I  am  unable  to  de 
scribe  the  nuptials  of  Hortense  and  Charley.  But 
the  papers  were  full  of  them  ;  what  the  female 
guests  wore,  what  the  male  guests  were  worth,  and 
what  both  ate  and  drank,  were  set  forth  in  many 
columns  of  printed  matter;  and  if  you  did  not 
happen  to  see  this,  just  read  the  account  of  the 
next  wedding  that  occurs  among  the  New  York 
yellow  rich,  and  you  will  know  how  Charley  and 
Hortense  were  married ;  for  it's  always  the  same- 
thing.  The  point  of  mark  in  this  particular  cere 
mony  of  union  lay  in  Charley's  speech ;  Charley 
found  a  happy  thought  at  the  breakfast.  The 
bridal  party  (so  the  papers  had  it)  sat  on  a  dais, 
and  was  composed  exclusively  of  Oil,  Sugar,  Beef, 
Steel,  and  Union  Pacific  ;  merely  at  this  one  table 
five  hundred  million  dollars  were  sitting  (so  the 
papers  computed),  and  it  helped  the  bridegroom 
to  his  idea,  when,  by  the  importunate  vociferations 
of  the  company,  he  was  forced  to  get  on  his  un 
willing  legs. 

"Poets  and  people  of  that  sort  say"  (Charley 
20  385 


386  LADY   BALTIMORE 

concluded,  after  thanking  them)  "  that  happiness 
cannot  be  bought  with  money.  Well,  I  guess  a 
poet  never  does  learn  how  to  make  a  dollar  do  a 
dollar's  work.  But  I  am  no  poet ;  and  I  have 
learned  it  is  as  well  to  have  a  few  dollars  around. 
And  I  guess  that  my  friends  and  I,  right  here  at 
this  table,  could  organize  a  corner  in  happiness 
any  day  we  chose.  And  if  we  do,  we  will  let  you 
all  in  on  it." 

I  am  told  that  the  bride  looked  superb,  both  in 
church  and  at  the  reception  which  took  place  in 
the  house  of  Kitty;  and  that  General  Rieppe, 
in  spite  of  his  shattered  health,  maintained  a  noble 
appearance  through  the  whole  ordeal  of  parting 
with  his  daughter.  I  noticed  that  Beverly  Rod- 
gers  and  Gazza  figured  prominently  among  the 
invited  guests:  Bohm  did  not  have  to  be  invited, 
for  some  time  before  the  wedding  he  had  become 
the  husband  of  the  successfully  divorced  Kitty. 
So  much  for  the  nuptials  of  Hortense  and  Charley; 
they  were,  as  one  paper  pronounced  them,  "  up  to 
date  and  distingue."  The  paper  omitted  the  accent 
in  the  French  word,  which  makes  it,  I  think,  fit 
this  wedding  even  more  happily. 

"  So  Hortense,"  I  said  to  myself  as  I  read  the 
paper,  "has  squared  herself  with  Charley  after  all." 
And  I  sat  wondering  if  she  would  be  happy.  But 
she  was  not  constructed  for  happiness.  You  can 
not  be  constructed  for  all  the  different  sorts  of 
experiences  which  this  world  offers :  each  of  our 
natures  has  its  specialty.  Hortense  was  con 
structed  for  pleasure  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  she 
got  it,  if  not  through  Charley,  then  by  other 
means. 


BEHIND   THE   TIMES  387 

The  marriage  of  Eliza  La  Heu  and  John  May- 
rant  was  of  a  different  quality ;  no  paper  pro 
nounced  it  "  up  to  date,"  or  bestowed  any  other 
adjectival  comments  upon  it;  for,  being  solem 
nized  in  Kings  Port,  where  such  purely  personal 
happenings  are  still  held  (by  the  St.  Michael 
family,  at  any  rate)  to  be  no  business  of  any  one's 
save  those  immediately  concerned,  the  event 
escaped  the  tarnishment  of  publicity.  Yes,  this 
marriage  was  solemnized,  a  word  that  I  used  above 
without  forethought,  and  now  repeat  with  inten 
tion  ;  for  certainly  no  respecter  of  language  would 
write  it  of  the  yellow  rich  and  their  blatant 
unions.  If  you're  a  Bohm  or  a  Charley,  you  may 
trivialize  or  vulgarize  or  bestialize  your  wedding, 
but  solemnize  it  you  don't,  for  that  is  not  "  up  to 
date." 

And  to  the  marriage  of  Eliza  and  John  I  went; 
for  not  only  was  the  honor  of  my  presence  re 
quested,  but  John  wrote  me,  in  both  their  names, 
a  personal  note,  which  came  to  me  far  away  in  the 
mountains,  whither  I  had  gone  from  Kings  Port. 
This  was  the  body  of  the  note :  — 

"  To  the  formal  invitation  which  you  will  re 
ceive,  Miss  La  Heu  joins  her  wish  with  mine 
that  you  will  not  be  absent  on  that  day.  We 
should  both  really  miss  you.  Miss  La  Heu  begs 
me  to  add  that  if  this  is  not  sufficient  induce 
ment,  you  shall  have  a  slice  of  Lady  Baltimore." 

Not  a  long  note !  But  you  will  imagine  how 
genuinely  I  was  touched  by  their  joint  message. 
I  was  not  an  old  acquaintance,  and  I  had 
done  little  to  help  them  in  their  troubles, 
but  I  came  into  the  troubles ;  with  their  mem- 


388  LADY   BALTIMORE 

ory  of  those  days  I  formed  a  part,  and  it  was 
a  part  which  it  warmed  me  to  know  they  did  not 
dislike  to  recall.  I  had  actually  been  present  at 
their  first  meeting,  that  day  when  John  visited 
the  Exchange  to  order  his  wedding-cake,  and 
Eliza  had  rushed  after  him,  because  in  his  embar 
rassment  he  had  forgotten  to  tell  her  the  date  for 
which  he  wanted  it.  The  cake  had  begun  it,  the 
cake  had  continued  it,  the  cake  had  brought  them 
together ;  and  in  Eliza's  retrospect  now  I  doubted 
if  she  could  find  the  moment  when  her  love  for 
John  had  awakened  ;  but  if  with  women  there 
ever  is  such  a  moment,  then,  as  I  have  before 
said,  it  was  when  the  girl  behind  the  counter 
looked  across  at  the  handsome,  blushing  boy,  and 
felt  stirred  to  help  him  in  his  stumbling  attempts 
to  be  businesslike  about  that  cake.  If  his  youth 
unwittingly  kindled  hers,  how  could  he  or  she 
help  that  ?  But,  had  he  ever  once  known  it  and 
shown  it  to  her  during  his  period  of  bondage  to 
Hortense,  then,  indeed,  the  flame  would  have 
turned  to  ice  in  Eliza's  breast.  What  saved  him 
for  her  was  his  blind  steadfastness  against  her. 
That  was  the  very  thing  she  prized  most,  once  it 
became  hers  ;  whereas,  any  secret  swerving  tow 
ard  her  from  Hortense  during  his  heavy  hours  of 
probation  would  have  degraded  John  to  nothing 
in  Eliza's  eyes.  And  so,  making  all  this  out  by 
myself  in  the  mountains  after  reading  John's 
note,  I  ordered  from  the  North  the  handsomest 
old  china  cake-dish  that  Aunt  Carola  could  find, 
to  be  sent  to  Miss  Eliza  La  Heu  with  my  card. 
I  wanted  to  write  on  the  card,  "  Rira  bien  qui  rira 
le  dernier ;  "  but  alas  !  so  many  pleasant  thoughts 


BEHIND   THE   TIMES  389 

may  never  be  said  aloud  in  this  world  of  ours. 
That  I  ordered  china,  instead  of  silver,  was  due 
to  my  surmise  that  in  Kings  Port  —  or  at  any 
rate  by  Mrs.  Weguelin  and  Miss  Josephine  St. 
Michael  —  silver  from  any  one  not  of  the  family 
would  be  considered  vulgar;  it  was  only  a  sur 
mise,  and,  of  course,  it  was  precisely  the  sort  of 
thing  that  I  could  not  verify  by  asking  any  of 
them. 

But  (you  may  be  asking)  how  on  earth  did  all 
this  come  about  ?  What  happened  in  Kings  Port 
on  the  day  following  that  important  swim  which 
Hortense  and  John  took  together  in  the  waters  of 
the  harbor? 

I  wish  that  I  could  tell  you  all  that  happened, 
but  I  can  only  tell  you  of  the  outside  of  things; 
the  inside  was  wholly  invisible  and  inaudible  to 
me,  although  we  may  be  sure,  I  think,  that  when 
the  circles  that  widened  from  Hortense's  plunge 
reached  the  shores  of  the  town,  there  must  have 
been  in  certain  quarters  a  considerable  splashing. 
I  presume  that  John  communicated  to  somebody 
the  news  of  his  broken  engagement ;  for  if  he 
omitted  to  do  so,  with  the  wedding  invitations  to 
be  out  the  next  day,  he  was  remiss  beyond  excuse, 
and  I  think  this  very  unlikely;  and  I  also  pre 
sume  (with  some  evidence  to  go  on)  that  Hortense 
did  not,  in  the  somewhat  critical  juncture  of  her 
fortunes,  allow  the  grass  to  grow  under  her  feet 
—  if  such  an  expression  may  be  used  of  a  person 
who  is  shut  up  in  the  stateroom  of  a  steam  yacht. 
To  me  John  Mayrant  made  no  sign  of  any  sort  by 
word  or  in  writing,  and  this  is  the  highest  proof 
he  ever  gave  me  of  his  own  delicacy,  and  also  of 


390  LADY   BALTIMORE 

his  reliance  upon  mine ;  for  he  must  have  been 
pretty  sure  that  I  had  overheard  those  last  destiny- 
deciding  words  spoken  between  himself  and  Hor- 
tense  in  the  boat,  as  we  reached  the  Hermand s 
gangway.  In  John's  place  almost  any  man,  even 
Beverly  Rodgers,  would  have  either  dropped  a 
hint  at  the  moment,  or  later  sent  me  some  line  to 
the  effect  that  the  incident  was,  of  course,  "be 
tween  ourselves."  That  would  have  been  both 
permissible  and  practical ;  but  there  it  was,  the 
difference  between  John  of  Kings  Port  and  us 
others  ;  he  was  not  practical  when  it  came  to 
something  "  between  gentlemen,"  as  he  would 
have  said.  The  finest  flower  of  breeding  blossoms 
above  the  level  of  the  practical,  and  that  is  why 
you  do  not  find  it  growing  in  the  huge  truck-gar 
den  of  our  age,  save  in  corners  where  it  has  not 
yet  been  uprooted.  John's  silence  to  me  was 
something  that  I  liked  very  much,  and  he  must 
have  found  that  it  was  not  misplaced. 

The  first  external  splash  of  the  few  that  I  have 
to  narrate  was  a  negative  manifestation,  and  oc 
curred  at  breakfast:  Juno  supposed  that  the  wed 
ding  invitations  would  be  out  later  in  the  day. 
The  next  splash,  a  somewhat  louder  one,  was  at 
dinner,  when  Juno  inquired  of  Mrs.  Trevise  if  she 
had  received  any  wedding  invitation.  At  tea 
there  was  very  decided  splashing.  No  invitation 
had  come  to  anybody.  Juno  had  called  at  five 
of  the  St.  Michael  houses  and  got  in  at  none  of 
them,  and  there  was  a  rumor  that  the  Hermana 
had  disappeared  from  the  harbor.  So  far,  none 
of  the  splashing  had  wet  me,  but  I  now  came  in 
for  a  light  sprinkle. 


BEHIND   THE   TIMES  391 

"  Were  you  not  on  board  that  boat  yesterday  ?  " 
Juno  inquired ;  and  to  see  her  look  at  me  you  might 
have  gathered  that  I  was  suspected  of  sinking  the 
vessel. 

"  A  most  delightful  occasion  !  "  I  exclaimed,  fill 
ing  my  face  with  a  bright  blankness. 

"  Isn't  he  awful  to  speak  that  way  about  Sun 
day  !  "  said  the  up-country  bride. 

This  was  a  chance  for  the  poetess,  and  she  took 
it.  "  To  me,"  she  mused,  "  every  day  seems  fraught 
with  an  equal  holiness." 

"  But  I  should  think,"  observed  the  Briton,  "  that 
you  could  knock  off  a  hymn  better  on  Sundays." 

All  this  while  Juno  was  looking  at  me,  and  I 
knew  it,  and  therefore  I  ate  my  food  in  a  kindly 
sort  of  unconscious  way,  until  she  fired  another 
shot  at  me.  "  There  is  an  absurd  report  that 
somebody  fell  overboard." 

"  Dear  me !  "  I  laughed.  "  So  that  is  what  it 
has  grown  to  already !  I  did  go  out  on  the  boat 
boom,  and  I  did  drop  off  —  but  into  a  boat." 

At  this  confession  of  mine  the  up-country  bride 
became  extraordinarily  arch  on  the  subject  of  the 
well-known  hospitality  of  steam  yachts,  and  for 
this  I  was  honestly  grateful  to  her;  but  Juno 
brooded  still.  "  I  hope  there  is  nothing  wrong," 
she  said  solemnly. 

Feeling  that  silence  at  this  point  would  not  be 
golden,  I  went  into  it  with  spirit.  I  told  them  of 
our  charming  party,  of  General  Rieppe's  rich  store 
of  quotations,  of  the  strict  discipline  on  board  the 
well-appointed  Hermana,  of  the  great  beauty  of 
Hortense,  and  her  evident  happiness  when  her 
lover  was  by  her  side.  This  talk  of  mine  turned 


:392  LADY   BALTIMORE 

off  any  curiosity  or  suspicion  which  the  rest  of  the 
company  may  have  begun  to  entertain;  but  upon 
Juno  I  think  it  made  scant  impression,  save  caus 
ing  her  to  set  me  down  as  an  imbecile.  For  there 
was  Doctor  Beaugar^on  when  we  came  into  the 
sitting-room,  who  told  us  before  any  one  could  even 
say  "  How-do-you-do,"  that  Miss  Hortense  Rieppe 
had  broken  her  engagement  with  John  Mayrant, 

.and  that  he  had  it  from  Mrs.  Cornerly,  whom  he 
was  visiting  professionally.  I  caught  the  pitying 
look  which  Juno  threw  at  me  at  this  news,  and  I 
was  happy  to  have  acquitted  myself  so  creditably 
in  the  manipulation  of  my  secret :  nobody  asked 
me  any  more  questions ! 

There  is  almost  nothing  else  to  tell  you  of  how 
the  splashes  broke  on  Kings  Port.  Before  the 
day  when  I  was  obliged  to  call  in  Doctor  Beau- 
gar^on's  professional  services  (quite  a  sharp  attack 
put  me  to  bed  for  half  a  week)  I  found  merely  the 
following  things:  the  Hermana  had  gone  to  New 
York,  the  automobiles  and  the  Replacers  had  also 
disappeared,  and  people  were  divided  on  the  not 

.strikingly  important  question  as  to  whether 
Hortense  and  the  General  had  accompanied 
Charley  on  the  yacht,  or  continued  northward  in 
an  automobile,  or  taken  the  train.  Gone,  in  any 

'Case,  the  whole  party  indubitably  was,  leaving,  I 
must  say,  a  sense  of  emptiness :  the  comedy  was 
over,  the  players  departed.  I  never  heard  any 
one,  not  even  Juno,  doubt  that  it  was  Hortense 
who  had  broken  the  engagement;  this  part  of  the 
affair  was  conducted  by  the  principals  with  great 

.skill.     Hortense  had  evidently  written  her  version 

-.to  the  Cornerlys,  and  not  a  word    to  any  other 


BEHIND   THE  TIMES  393 

effect  ever  came  from  John's  mouth,  of  course. 
One  result  I  had  not  looked  for,  though  it  was  a 
natural  one :  if  the  old  ladies  had  felt  indignation 
at  Hortense  for  her  determination  to  marry  John 
Mayrant,  this  indignation  was  doubled  by  her  de 
termination  not  to  !  I  fear  that  few  of  us  live  by 
logic,  even  in  Kings  Port ;  and  then,  they  had  all 
called  upon  her  in  that  garden  for  nothing !  The 
sudden  thought  of  this  made  me  laugh  alone  in 
my  bed  of  sickness  ;  and  when  I  came  out  of  it, 
had  such  a  thing  been  possible,  I  should  have 
liked  to  congratulate  Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael 
on  her  absence  from  the  garden  occasion.  I  said, 
however,  nothing  to  her,  or  to  any  of  the  other 
ladies,  upon  this  or  any  subject,  for  I  was  so  un 
lucky  as  to  find  them  not  at  home  when  I  paid 
my  round  of  farewell  visits.  Nor  (to  my  real 
distress)  did  I  see  John  Mayrant  again.  The  boy 
wrote  me  (I  received  it  in  bed)  a  short,  warm  note 
of  regret,  with  nothing  else  in  it  save  the  fact  that 
he  was  leaving  town,  having  become  free  from  the 
Custom  House  at  last.  I  fancy  that  he  ran  away 
for  a  judicious  interval.  Who  would  not  ? 

Was  there  one  person  to  whom  he  told  the 
truth  before  he  went  ?  Did  the  girl  behind  the 
counter  hear  the  manner  in  which  the  engage 
ment  was  broken  ?  Ah,  none  of  us  will  ever 
know  that !  But,  although  I  could  not,  without 
the  highest  impropriety,  have  spoken  to  any  of 
the  old  ladies  about  this  business,  unless  they  had 
chosen  to  speak  to  me  —  and  somehow  I  feel  that 
after  the  abrupt  close  of  it  not  even  Mrs.  Gregory 
St.  Michael  would  have  been  likely  to  touch  on 
the  subject  with  an  outsider  —  there  was  nothing 


394  LADY   BALTIMORE 

whatever  to  forbid  my  indulging  in  a  skirmish 
with  Eliza  La  Heu ;  therefore  I  lunched  at  the 
Exchange  on  my  last  day. 

"  To  the  mountains  ? "  she  said,  in  reply  to  my 
information  about  my  plans  of  travel. 

"  Doctor  Beaugar^on  says  nothing  else  can  so 
quickly  restore  me." 

"  Stay  there  for  the  rhododendrons,  then,"  she 
bade  me.  "  No  sight  more  beautiful  in  all  the 
South." 

"  Town  seems  deserted,"  I  pursued.  "  Every 
body  gone." 

"  Oh,  not  everybody !  " 

"  All  the  interesting  people." 

"  Thank  you." 

"  I  meant,  interesting  to  you? 

I  saw  her  decide  not  to  be  angry;  and  her 
decision  changed  and  saved  our  conversation  from 
the  trashy,  bantering  tone  which  it  was  taking, 
and  brought  it  to  a  pass  most  unexpected  to  both 
of  us. 

She  gave  me  a  charming  and  friendly  smile. 
"  Well,  you,  at  any  rate,  are  going  away.  And  I 
am  really  sorry  for  that." 

Her  eyes  rested  upon  me  with  perfect  frank 
ness.  I  was  not  in  love  with  Eliza  La  Heu,  but 
nearer  to  love  than  I  had  ever  been  then,  and  it 
would  have  been  easy,  very  easy,  to  let  one's  self 
go  straight  onward  into  love.  There  are  for  a 
man  more  ways  of  falling  into  that  state  than 
romancers  would  have  us  to  believe,  and  one  of 
them  is  by  an  assent  of  the  will  at  a  certain  given 
moment,  which  the  heart  promptly  follows  —  just 
as  a  man  in  a  moment  decides  he  will  espouse  a 


BEHIND   THE   TIMES  395 

cause,  and  soon  finds  himself  hotly  fighting  for  it 
body  and  soul.  I  could  have  gone  out  of  that 
Exchange  completely  in  love  with  Eliza  La  Heu ; 
but  my  will  did  not  give  its  assent,  and  I  saw  John 
Mayrant  not  as  a  rival,  but  as  one  whose  happiness 
I  greatly  desired. 

"Thank  you,"  I  said,  "for  telling  me  you  are 
sorry  I  am  going.  And  now,  may  I  treat  you 
more  than  ever  as  a  friend,  and  tell  you  of  a  cir 
cumstance  which  Kings  Port  does  not  know  ? " 

It  put  her  on  her  guard.  "  Don't  be  indiscreet," 
she  laughed. 

"  Isn't  timely  indiscretion  discretion  ?  " 

"And  don't  be  clever,"  she  said.  "Tell  me 
what  you  have  to  say  —  if  you're  quite  sure  you'll 
not  be  sorry." 

"  Quite  sure.  There's  no  reason  —  now  that 
the  untruth  is  properly  and  satisfactorily  estab 
lished  —  that  one  person  should  not  know  that 
John  Mayrant  broke  that  engagement."  And  I 
told  her  the  whole  of  it.  "  If  I'm  outrageous  to 
share  this  secret  with  you,"  I  concluded,  "  I 
can  only  say  that  I  couldn't  stand  the  unfairness 
any  longer." 

"  He  jumped  straight  in  ?  "  said  Eliza. 

"  Oh,  straight !  " 

"  Of  course,"  she  murmured. 

"  And  just  after  declaring  that  he  wouldn't." 

''  Of  course,"  she  murmured  again.  "  And  the 
current  took  them  right  away  ?  " 

"  Instantly." 

"  Was  he  very  tired  when  you  got  to  him  ? " 

I  answered  this  question  and  a  number  of 
others,  backward  and  forward,  until  she  had  led 


396  LADY   BALTIMORE 

me  to  cover  the  whole  incident  about  twice-and-a- 
half  times.  Then  she  had  a  silence,  and  after  this 
a  reflection. 

"  How  well  they  managed  it !  " 

"  Managed  what  ?  " 

"  The  accepted  version." 

"  Oh,  yes,  indeed  !  " 

"  And  you  and  I  will  not  spoil  it  for  them,"  she 
declared. 

As  I  took  my  final  leave  of  her  she  put  a  flower 
in  my  buttonhole.  My  reflection  was  then,  and  is 
now,  that  if  she  already  knew  the  truth  from  John 
himself,  how  well  she  managed  it! 

So  that  same  night  I  took  the  lugubrious  train 
which  bore  me  with  the  grossest  deliberation  to 
the  mountains ;  and  among  the  mountains  and 
their  waterfalls  I  stayed  and  saw  the  rhododen 
drons,  and  was  preparing  to  journey  home  when 
the  invitation  came  from  John  and  Eliza. 

I  have  already  said  that  of  this  wedding  no 
word  was  in  the  papers.  Kings  Port  by  the  war 
lost  all  material  things,  but  not  the  others,  among 
which  precious  privacy  remains  to  her ;  and,  O 
Kings  Port,  may  you  never  lose  your  grasp  of  that 
treasure  !  May  you  never  know  the  land  where 
the  reporter  blooms,  where  if  any  joy  or  grief 
befall  you,  the  public  press  rings  your  doorbell  and 
demands  the  particulars,  and  if  you  deny  it  the 
particulars,  it  makes  them  up  and  says  something 
scurrilous  about  you  into  the  bargain.  Therefore 
nothing  was  printed,  morning  or  evening,  about 
John  and  Eliza.  Nor  was  the  wedding  service 
held  in  church  to  the  accompaniment  of  nodding 
bonnets  and  gaping  stragglers.  No  eye  not  tender 


BEHIND   THE   TIMES  397 

with  regard  and  emotion  looked  on  while  John 
took  Eliza  to  his  wedded  wife,  to  live  together 
after  God's  ordinance  in  the  holy  state  of  matri 
mony. 

In  Royal  Street,  not  many  steps  from  South 
Place,  there  stands  a  quiet  house  a  little  back, 
upon  whose  face  sorrow  has  struck  many  blows, 
but  made  no  deep  wounds  yet ;  no  scorch  from  the 
fires  of  war  is  visible,  and  the  rending  of  the  earth 
quake  does  not  show  too  plainly ;  but  there  hangs 
about  the  house  a  gravity  that  comes  from  seeing 
and  suffering  much,  and  a  sweetness  from  having 
sheltered  many  generations  of  smiles  and  tears. 
The  long  linked  chain  of  births  and  deaths  here 
has  not  been  broken  and  scattered,  and  the  grand 
children  look  out  of  the  same  windows  from  which 
the  grandsires  gazed,  whose  faces  now  in  picture 
frames  still  watch  serenely  the  sad  present  from 
their  happy  past.  Therefore  the  rooms  lie  in  still 
depths  of  association,  and  from  the  walls,  the  stairs, 
the  furniture,  flows  the  benign  influence  of  undis- 
persed  memories ;  it  sheds  its  tempered  radiance 
upon  the  old  miniatures,  and  upon  every  fresh 
flower  that  comes  in  from  the  garden  ;  it  seems 
to  pass  through  the  open  doors  to  and  fro  like  a 
tranquil  blessing;  it  is  beyond  joy  and  pain,  because 
time  has  distilled  it  from  both  of  these  ;  it  is  the 
assembled  essence  of  kinship  and  blood  unity, 
enriched  by  each  succeeding  brood  that  is  born, 
is  married,  is  fruitful  in  its  turn,  and  dies  remem 
bered  ;  only  the  balm  of  faith  is  stronger  to  sus 
tain  and  heal,  for  that  comes  from  heaven,  while 
it  is  earth  that  gives  us  this ;  and  the  sacred  cup 


398 


LADY   BALTIMORE 


There  hangs  about  the  house  a  gravity  .  .   .  and  a  sweetness 

of  it  which  our  native  land  once  held  is  almost 
empty. 

Amid  this  influence  John  and  Eliza  were  made 


BEHIND   THE   TIMES  399 

one,  and  the  faces  of  the  older  generations  grew 
soft  beneath  it,  and  pensive  eyes  became  lustrous, 
and  into  pale  cheeks  the  rosy  tint  came  like  an 
echo  faintly  back  for  a  short  hour.  They  made 
so  little  sound  in  their  quiet  happiness  of  con 
gratulation  that  it  might  have  been  a  dream ;  and 
they  were  so  few  that  the  house  with  the  sense 
of  its  memories  was  not  lost  with  the  movement 
and  crowding,  but  seemed  still  to  preside  over  the 
whole,  and  send  down  its  benediction. 

When  it  was  my  turn  to  shake  the  hands  of 
bride  and  groom,  John  asked  :  — 

"  What  did  your  friend  do  with  your  advice  ?  " 

And  I  replied,  "  He  has  taken  it." 

"Perhaps  not  that,"  John  returned,  "but  you 
must  have  helped  him  to  see  his  way." 

When  the  bride  came  to  cut  the  cake,  she  called 
me  to  her  and  fulfilled  her  promise. 

"  You  have  always  liked  my  baking,"  she  said. 

"  Then  you  made  it  after  all,"  I  answered. 

"  I  would  not  have  been  married  without  doing 
so,"  she  declared  sweetly. 

When  the  time  came  for  them  to  go  away,  they 
were  surrounded  with  affectionate  God-speeds ; 
but  Miss  Josephine  St.  Michael  waited  to  be  the 
last,  standing  a  little  apart,  her  severe  and  chiselled 
face  turned  aside,  and  seeming  to  watch  a  mock 
ing-bird  that  was  perched  in  his  cage  at  a  window 
halfway  up  the  stairs. 

"  He  is  usually  not  so  silent,"  Miss  Josephine 
said  to  me.  "  I  suppose  we  are  too  many  visitors 
for  him." 

Then  I  saw  that  the  old  lady,  beneath  her 
severity,  was  deeply  moved ;  and  almost  at  once 


400  LADY   BALTIMORE 

John  and  Eliza  came  down  the  stairs.  Miss 
Josephine  took  each  of  them  to  her  heart,  but 
she  did  not  trust  herself  to  speak ;  and  a  single 
tear  rolled  down  her  face,  as  the  boy  and  girl 
continued  to  the  hall-door.  There  Daddy  Ben 
stood,  and  John's  gay  good-by  to  him  was  the 
last  word  that  I  heard  the  bridegroom  say. 
While  we  all  stood  silently  watching  them  as 
they  drove  away  from  the  tall  iron  gate,  the 
mocking-bird  on  the  staircase  broke  into  melo 
dious  ripples  of  song. 


XXIII 

POOR  AUNT  CAROLA ! 

AND  now  here  goes  my  language  back  into  the 
small-clothes  that  it  wore  at  the  beginning  of 
all,  when  I  told  you  something  of  that  colonial 
society,  the  Selected  Salic  Scions,  dear  to  the 
heart  of  my  Aunt.  It  were  beyond  my  compass 
to  approach  this  august  body  of  men  and  women 
with  the  respect  that  is  its  due,  did  I  attire  myself 
in  that  modern  garment  which,  in  the  phrase  of 
the  vulgar,  is  denoted  pants. 

You  will  scarce  have  forgot,  I  must  suppose, 
the  importance  set  by  my  Aunt  Carola  upon  the 
establishing  of  the  Scions  in  new  territories, 
wherever  such  persons  as  were  both  qualified  by 
their  descent  and  in  themselves  worthy,  should  be 
found ;  and  you  will  remember  that  I  was  bidden 
by  her  to  look  in  South  Carolina  for  members  of 
the  Bombo  connection  which  she  was  inclined  to 
suspect  existed  in  that  state.  My  neglect  to 
make  this  inquiry  for  my  kind  Aunt  now  smote 
me  sharply  when  all  seemed  too  late.  John  May- 
rant  had  spoken  of  Kill-devil  Bombo,  the  very 
personage  through  whom  lay  Aunt  Carola's  claim 
to  kingly  lineage,  and  I  had  let  John  Mayrant  go 
away  upon  his  honeymoon  without  ever  question 
ing  him  upon  this  subject.  As  I  looked  back 
upon  the  ease  with  which  I  might  have  settled 

2D  401 


402  LADY   BALTIMORE 

the  matter,  and  forward  to  my  return  empty- 
handed  to  the  generous  relative  to  whom  I  owed 
this  agreeable  experience  of  travel,  I  felt  guilty 
indeed.  I  wrote  a  letter  to  follow  John  Mayrant 
into  whatever  retreat  of  bliss  he  had  betaken  him 
self  to,  and  I  begged  him  earnestly  to  write  me  at 
his  early  convenience  all  that  he  might  know  of 
Bombos  in  South  Carolina.  Consequently,  I  was 
able,  on  reaching  home,  to  meet  Aunt  Carola  with 
some  sort  of  countenance,  and  to  assure  her  that 
I  expected  presently  to  be  furnished  with  authen 
tic  and  valuable  particulars. 

I  now  learned  that  the  Selected  Salic  Scions 
had  greatly  increased  in  numbers  during  my  short 
absence.  It  appeared  that  the  origin  of  the  whole 
movement  had  sprung  from  a  needy  but  ingenious 
youth  in  some  manufacturing  town  of  New  Eng 
land.  This  lad  had  a  cousin,  wrho  had  amassed 
from  nothing  a  noble  fortune  by  inventing  one 
day  a  speedy  and  convenient  fashion  of  opening 
beer  bottles;  and  this  cousin's  achievement  had 
set  him  to  looking  about  him.  He  soon  discovered 
that  in  our  great  republic  everywhere  there  were 
living  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men  and  women 
who  were  utterly  unaware  that  they  were  de 
scended  from  kings.  Borrowing  a  little  money 
to  float  him,  he  set  up  The  American  Almanack 
de  Gotha  and  began  (for  the  minimum  sum  of 
fifty  dollars  a  pedigree)  to  reveal  to  these  eager 
people  the  chain  of  links  that  connected  them  with 
royalty.  Thus,  in  a  period  of  time  the  brevity  of 
which  is  incredible,  this  young  man  passed  from 
complete  indigence  to  a  wife  and  four  automobiles, 
or  an  automobile  and  four  wives  —  I  don't  remem- 


POOR  AUNT   CAROLA!  403 

ber  which  he  had  the  four  of.  There  was  so 
much  royal  blood  about  that  it  had  spilled  into 
several  rival  organizations,  each  bitterly  warring 
with  the  other ;  but  my  Aunt  assured  me  that  her 
society  was  the  only  one  that  any  respectable 
person  belonged  to. 

I  am  minded  to  announce  a  rule  of  discreet 
conduct:  Never  read  aloud  any  letter  that  you 
have  not  first  read  to  yourself.  Had  I  observed 
this  rule  —  but  listen :  — 

It  so  happened  that  Aunt  Carola  was  at  lunch 
eon  with  us  when  the  postman  brought  John 
Mayrant's  answer  to  my  inquiry,  and  at  the  sight 
of  his  handwriting  I  thoughtlessly  exclaimed  to 
my  Aunt  that  here  at  last  we  had  all  there  was 
to  be  known  concerning  the  Bombos  in  South 
Carolina ;  with  this  I  tore  open  the  missive  and 
embarked  upon  a  reading  of  it  for  the  edification 
of  all  present.  I  pass  over  the  beginning  of  John's 
communication,  because  it  was  merely  the  obser 
vations  of  a  man  upon  his  honeymoon,  and  was 
confined  to  laudatory  accounts  of  scenery  and 
weather,  and  the  beauty  of  all  life  when  once  one 
saw  it  with  his  eyes  truly  opened. 

"  No  Bombos  ever  came  to  Carolina,"  he  now 
continued,  "  that  I  know  of,  or  that  Aunt  Josephine 
knows  of,  which  is  more  to  the  point.  Aunt  Jose 
phine  has  copied  me  a  passage  from  the  writings 
of  William  Byrd,  Esq.,  of  Westover,  Virginia,  in 
which  mention  is  made,  not  of  the  family,  but  of  a 
rum  punch  which  seems  to  have  been  concocted 
first  by  Admiral  Bombo,  from  a  New  England 
brand  of  rum  so  very  deadly  that  it  was  not  in 
aptly  styled  *  kill-devil '  by  the  early  planters  of 


404  LADY   BALTIMORE 

the  colony.  That  the  punch  drifted  to  Carolina 
and  still  survives  there,  you  have  reason  to  know. 
Therefore  if  any  remote  ancestors  of  yours  con 
tracted  an  alliance  with  Kill-devil  Bombo,  I  can 
imagine  no  resulting  offspring  of  such  union  but 
a  series  of  severe  attacks  of  delir  —  " 

"What?"  interrupted  Aunt  Carola,  at  this 
point,  in  her  most  formidable  voice.  "  What's 
that  stuff  you're  reading,  Augustus  ? " 

I  shook  in  my  shoes.  "  Why,  Aunt,  it's 
John  —  " 

"  Not  another  word,  sir!  And  never  let  me 
hear  his  name  again.  To  think  —  to  think  —  " 
But  here  Aunt  Carola's  face  grew  extremely  red, 
and  she  choked  so  decidedly  that  Uncle  Andrew 
poured  her  a  glass  of  water. 

The  rest  of  our  luncheon  was  conducted  with 
remarkable  solemnity. 

As  we  were  rising  from  table,  my  Aunt  said:  — 

"  It  was  high  time,  Augustus,  that  you  came 
home.  You  seem  to  have  got  into  very  strange 
company  down  there." 

This  was  the  last  reference  to  the  Bombos  that 
my  Aunt  ever  made  in  my  hearing.  Of  course  it 
is  preposterous  to  suppose  that  she  traces  her 
descent  from  a  king  through  a  mere  bowl  of 
punch,  and  her  being  still  the  president  of  the 
Selected  Salic  Scions  is  proof  irrefutable  that  her 
claim  rests  upon  a  more  solid  foundation. 


XXIV 

POST    SCRIPTUM 

T  THINK  that  John  Mayrant,  Jr.,  is  going  to 
*  look  like  his  mother.  I  was  very  glad  to  be 
present  when  he  was  christened,  and  at  this  cere 
mony  I  did  not  feel  as  I  had  felt  the  year  before 
at  the  wedding;  for  then  I  had  known  well 
enough  that  if  the  old  ladies  found  any  blemish 
on  that  occasion,  it  was  my  being  there !  To 
them  I  must  remain  forever  a  "  Yankee,"  a  wall 
perfectly  imaginary  and  perfectly  real  between  us ; 
and  the  fact  that  young  John  could  take  any  other 
view  of  me,  was  to  them  a  sign  of  that  "  radical " 
tendency  in  him  which  they  were  able  to  forgive 
solely  because  he  was  of  the  younger  generation, 
and  didn't  know  any  better. 

And  with  these  thoughts  in  my  mind,  and  re 
membering  a  certain  very  grave  talk  I  had  once 
held  with  Eliza  in  the  Exchange  about  the  North 
and  the  South,  in  which  it  was  my  good  fortune 
to  make  her  see  that  there  is  on  our  soil  nowadays 
such  a  being  as  an  American,  who  feels,  wherever 
he  goes  in  our  native  land,  that  it  is  all  his,  and 
that  he  belongs  everywhere  to  it,  I  looked  at 
the  little  John  Mayrant,  and  then  I  said  to  his 
mother :  — 

405 


406  LADY  BALTIMORE 

"  And  will  you  teach  him  '  Dixie  '  and  '  Yankee 
Doodle '  as  well  ?  " 

But  Eliza  smiled  at  me  with  friendly,  inscrutable 
eyes. 

"  Oh,"  said  John,  "  you  mustn't  ask  too  much 
of  the  ladies.  I'll  see  to  all  that." 

Perhaps  he  will.  And  an  education  at  Har 
vard  College  need  not  cause  the  boy  to  forget  his 
race,  or  his  name,  or  his  traditions,  but  only  to 
value  them  more,  as  they  should  be  valued.  And 
the  way  that  they  should  be  valued  is  this:1  that 
the  boy  in  thinking  of  them  should  say  to  himself, 
"  I  am  proud  of  my  ancestors ;  let  my  life  make 
them  proud  of  me." 

But,  in  any  case,  is  it  not  pleasant  to  think  of 
the  boy  being  brought  up  by  Eliza,  and  not  by 
Hortense  ? 

And  so  my  portrait  of  Kings  Port  is  finished. 
That  the  likeness  is  not  perfect,  I  am  only  too 
sensible.  No  painter  that  I  have  heard  of  ever 
satisfies  the  whole  family.  But,  should  any  of  the 
St.  Michaels  see  this  picture,  I  trust  they  may 
observe  that  if  some  of  the  touches  are  faulty, 
true  admiration  and  love  of  his  subject  animated 
the  artist's  hand ;  and  if  Miss  Josephine  St. 
Michael  should  be  pleased  with  any  of  it,  I  could 
wish  that  she  might  indicate  this  by  sending  me 
a  Lady  Baltimore;  we  have  no  cake  here  that 
approaches  it. 


By  the  Same  Author 

THE    VIRGINIAN 

A  HORSEMAN   OF   THE   PLAINS 

With  eight  full-page  Illustrations  by  Arthur  I.  Keller 

Cloth  12mo  $1.50 


"There  is  not  a  page  in  Mr.  Wister's  new  book  which  is  not  interest 
ing.  This  is  its  first  great  merit,  that  it  arouses  the  sympathy  of  the  reader 
and  holds  him  absorbed  and  amused  to  the  end.  It  does  a  great  deal 
more  for  him.  .  .  .  Whoever  reads  the  first  page  will  find  it  next  to  im 
possible  to  put  the  book  down  until  he  has  read  every  one  of  the  five  hun 
dred  and  four  in  the  book,  and  then  he  will  wish  there  were  more  of 
them."  —  The  New  York  Tribune. 

"  Mr.  Wister  has  drawn  real  men  and  real  women,  and  a  day  that  America 
has  centuries  of  reason  for  pride  in,  now  passing  away  forever.  .  .  .  No 
one  writes  of  the  frontier  with  more  interest  than  this  young  Philadelphia 
author,  and  no  one  writes  literature  more  essentially  American.  In  The 
Virginian  he  has  put  forth  a  book  that  will  be  remembered  and  read  with 
interest  for  many  years  hence.  May  he  soon  write  another  as  good !  " 

—  The  Chicago  American. 

"  Mr.  Wister  is  an  engaging  story-teller.  His  descriptions  are  always 
graphic,  and  he  increases  his  reputation  for  narrative  bristling  with  Ameri 
canism  in  this  volume.  He  knows  the  West  by  long  and  intimate  personal 
contact,  and  he  brings  to  his  subject  a  depth  of  appreciation  and  under 
standing  unsurpassed  by  any  other  writer  who  has  chosen  the  Far  West  as 
a  theme  in  fiction.  .  .  .  The  story  is  human  and  alive.  It  has  the  *  touch 
and  go '  of  the  vibrating  life  of  the  expansive  American  West  and  puts  the 
country  and  the  people  vividly  before  the  reader." 

—  Philadelphia  Times'1  Saturday  Review. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

64-66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


FAIR    MARGARET 

A    PORTRAIT 

By  F.    MARION   CRAWFORD 

Author  of  "  Whosoever  Shall  Offend,"  "  Saracinesca,"  "  Via  Crucis,"  etc.,  etc. 

With  six  full-page  Illustrations  by  Horace  T.  Carpenter 
Cloth  12mo  $1.50 

"  Almost  every  character  is  individual  and  delightful  .  .  .  both  plot 
and  people  grip  the  reader."  —  Cleveland  Leader. 


YOLANDA 

MAID    OF  BURGUNDT 

By  CHARLES   MAJOR 

Author  of  "  Dorothy  Vernon  of  Haddon  Hall,"  "  When  Knighthood  was  in 
Flower,"  etc. 

Illustrated  by  Charlotte  Weber  DHzler 
Cloth  ?.2mo  $1.50 

"It  is  the  best  story  Mr.  Major  has  written,  and  as  a  story  pure  and 
•simple,  it  stands  shoulder-high  above  hosts  of  tales  that  have  clinched 
•their  hold  upon  popular  favor."  —  Chicago  Tribune. 

"  Undiluted  romance  ...  an  old-fashioned  love  story." 

—  New  York  Tribune. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

64-66  FIFTH  AVENUE,   NEW  YORK 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
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